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"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton The underlying issue is the huge power differential between advisers and students. Whenever t
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton
The underlying issue is the huge power differential between advisers and students. Whenever there is such a power differential, abuse is almost inevitable.
I fear that unless that power differential gets addressed, any solutions are going to just be superficial band-aids on a festering wound.
- hinkley 6y ago"It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power." - David Brin
- LanceH 6y agoBeing corrupt without power goes unnoticed.
- shuntress 6y agoI disagree. The power differential is not the underlying issue. Power is certainly a part of it but the underlying issue comes down to oversight + accountability. Both in specific written rules and in general societal norms that influence how those rules are used.
- wegs 6y agoLack of accountability is part of the power structure. At MIT, if you do something sufficiently nasty as a faculty member to embarrass the Institute, everyone is now pressured into signing NDAs / non-disclosures. If you don't, you're liable to get scapegoated yourself.
- vkou 6y agoPower corrupts, but more importantly, power reveals. You can only get a real measure of a man, or woman, when they have power over you.
- rossdavidh 6y agoEh, I think if you replaced all the people with others, but left the power structure in place, you'd get a similar result. That's why it doesn't just happen at MIT, but at pretty much every university I've heard the inside scoop on.