Are letters of recommendation the ace under the sleeve of bully mentors? Surviving Bullying in higher education — Part 2
By: Marie Curie Alumni Association
Tags: Science, Research, Bullying, Mcaa

Bullying in higher education, The Survey

Letters of recommendation are key in the process of hiring for academic and research job positions. Subjective perspectives and the existence of bias can jeopardize scientific careers. Celia Arroyo-López, member of the MCAA GEDI and Policy Working Groups, discusses abuses and misuses related to bully mentors and their targets.

This article is divided in two parts. In the first one, we have examined the letters of recommendation, their definition, and roles in academic and research environments. In this second part, you will find how these letters might negatively or positively affect your career depending on the writer’s beliefs about you and I’ll give you the results of an interesting survey I carried out while creating my campaign to bring light to the common cases of abuses we could all suffer in an academic environment. This article aims to collaborate in improving ethics in academia and research, evaluating how letters of recommendation might be used against you in cases of labour abuse.

Bringing Light to Obscurity

After dealing with labour abuses, bullying, and mobbing in academia, with no effective institutional and governmental support, I decided to come out and to initiate a campaign to bring to light the common cases of abuses we suffer in academic environments and the reasons why they are underreported. I experienced the lack of policies to protect victims, after ten years I have several articles blocked or not allowed to publish, as a way of affecting my c. vitae, and my career seems to be over. As part of my healing process, I launched a small-scale anonymous survey about Academic harassment to collect preliminary data, without any funds or institutional support. I asked people whether they ever experienced or witnessed harassment in higher education or in their research field? If so, what were the most common harassing methods they have experienced or witnessed? As examples, some of the results are discussed below, the rest will come soon in the form of a new publication.

The Survey

“75% of respondents considered themselves victims of harassment in academia and 39,6% witnessed it at some point of their careers.”

Carried out between April and June 2020, the survey collected 53 responses (data not published yet). The survey was distributed using email lists and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Slack, LinkedIn. While the great majority of respondents wanted to remain anonymous, some of them said they would be willing to go public.

According to the survey’s results, abuses in academia are underreported because victims and survivors are afraid of being considered as “troublemakers.” More specifically, 75% of respondents considered themselves victims of harassment in academia and 39,6% witnessed it at some point of their careers[1] [2] . When asked why, based on their own experience, they think harassment/bullying/mobbing is generally underreported, and what were the victims´ main fears, the majority of the surveyed mentioned the end of their scientific careers (81,13 %).

62,26% of respondents were worried about having bad LORs or being blacklisted. Also, not being believed or being too psychologically and emotionally affected to be able to report their situation were repeated responses (60,38 %). Likewise, fearing the termination of contracts (52,83 %), being badmouthed (47,17 %), a lack of trust in the institutions, and/or in academia’s human resources management (47,17 %) were frequent responses too. Curiously, some of them were concerned about protecting the bully and the institution from bad publicity (37,74 %).

Lastly, a fear of a VISA expiration or being deported was also noted (26,42 %). A VISA-dependent person is more vulnerable. If one’s VISA status is determined by the length of their contract or host program, dealing with an abusive supervisor might be more complicated.

In general, it is interesting to notice that the main concerns of victims or witnesses’ supervisor- or mentor-dependent, and not associated with their careers, skills, or abilities. However, it is also interesting to note that, despite the lack of institutional and social support, victims and survivors are still willing to talk and share their own experiences. It is a communal catharsis, and the beginning of a healing process.

Conclusions and Take home messages

In summary, a poor LOR, or the lack of it, might jeopardize the opportunities of getting a job in academia, despite one’s scientific record. So, if our referees do not like us, or if we do not “behave properly,” we are more likely to get a bad LOR. This may hint to the existence of clear bias in academic LORs. We are meant to be strong and competitive within this extremely demanding environment, however still little is considered about the real labour conditions. Are LORs a tool for the maintenance of the glass ceiling? I think so. In my experience, the fact of reporting discrimination and abuses has brought me defamatory LORs. Research in the era of COVID-19 and Open Science has now the opportunity to evaluate the problems concerning science, scientists and research, propose changes and improvements for a better science, and a better future for new generations of scientists. Luckily, there is some hope for change, thanks also to the Marie Curie Alumni Association. The MCAA is one of the first (and sadly still few) organizations that are openly discussing bullying in academia. Hopefully, its work would be soon followed by other organisations.