D.C. Grad students typically have few options when these relationships sour. Only a small number of schools have a well-defined grievance procedure, and even when they do, prospective Ph.D.'s often are wary of filing a complaint against an adviser afraid of a potentially ruinous effect on their careers. According to Repak, this power imbalance, along with other emotional and financial pressures, can contribute to a host of problems for graduate students, including depression, dropping out, and even, infrequently, suicide. A number of other schools, including Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, have since initiated seminars on conflict resolution for students and faculty. Even if students have a decent adviser, they aren't guaranteed a happy graduate career.
Some female students relate stories of unfair treatment of women in their departments.
One, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in sociology at State University of New York Stonybrook, claims she and a male colleague were given markedly different duties while working together as teaching assistants for a course. A former sociology student at one Southwestern university relates how, as a newcomer, she attended a potluck dinner given by female students, ostensibly to welcome women to the department. Certain institutions are taking steps to improve the climate for female students. The University of Michigan's Graduate Experience Project, for instance, offers faculty in engineering and the physical sciences seminars on sexual harassment and matches up incoming female students with experienced peer mentors. Some departments can be lonely places for minority doctoral students, who still make up only 9.4 percent of new Ph.D.'s.