>I also thought it was funny that she complained about the committee not raising those questions when she submitted her proposal years ago. At least in the sci

>I also thought it was funny that she complained about the committee not raising those questions when she submitted her proposal years ago. At least in the sciences, your thesis committee is supposed to continually/regularly keep tabs on your progress, and help ensure you're making progress towards a passing dissertation. This is the committee's responsibility. >An approved proposal does not in any way imply a seal of approval for every detail of the dissertation... come on now. For sure, but the committee should know how things are progressing. In the sciences, the thesis defense is not really a "defense". It only gets scheduled when everyone basically agrees you will pass, and it's more of a celebration. It's very rare to have hostile defenses, and extremely rare for someone to fail. (If that happens, it's usually due to politics.) >As if that is a valid response to this sort of response? True, but it is concerning if they're bringing up possible plagiarism by her and Dr. Mao, while not following through on any kind of punishment/censure of the two of them.