Hi everyone,
You may have seen the recent news articles discussing the tragic death in 2016 of ECE graduate student John Brady, who worked in an extremely toxic environment here on campus. This page (http://taa-madison.org/taa-ufas-ece-letter/) shows the TAA’s response, and also links to a recent news article in case you would like to read about it. Dr. Sayeed, John’s former advisor, is expected to return to work at the university in January despite concerns that he will continue exploiting and bullying students in his lab.
Students across campus have criticized the university for allowing Dr. Sayeed to return to work, and for ignoring the fact that many departments have similarly toxic faculty members whose behavior goes unchecked. The ECE Graduate Student Association (similar to PGSC), with the TAA’s support, has drafted a petition voicing their concerns and asks all community members who share their concerns to sign. If you are interested in adding your voice to the list of people condemning the University’s reaction and asking that they revisit their decision to continue employing Dr. Sayeed, you can find the petition here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/commit-to-a-graduate-student-workplace-environment-that-is-free-of-bullying-and-harassment/
The PGSC has worked with the department to assemble a short list of some resources available to graduate students that can help with mental/emotional health concerns and reporting grievances/harassment. These resources can be found at https://pgsc.physics.wisc.edu/resources/. As always, the PGSC comment box welcomes any and all comments, and feedback can be submitted anonymously. Please feel free to reach out to your PGSC representatives for support.
Sincerely,
Susan Sorensen (Current PGSC President)
Adrian Fraser (Previous PGSC President)
and all PGSC Officers
Adrian Fraser (Previous PGSC President)
and all PGSC Officers