bpcyclist you can always have your membership here deleted to anonymous once your memoir hits the bookshelves.

I am glad you shared your story. I too was harassed and bullied by the dept chair of my university's education dept., during my time there in the MAT program for teaching. She had a "list" of students she wanted out of the program, and my name was on that list. I was the grad assistant of the education academic dean at the time, so I I employed his support but then he died from his terminal illness in the middle of my battle. So, I was left with a very morally compromised interim dean whom I scheduled a meeting with and with the maniacal evil dept. chair. During the meeting with them both, I held me own and called out their lies with evidential support from the university's policies and the program's guidelines. This didn't get me very far. Then I was sitting in front of a jury of 12 pre-selected faculty members of different departments who grilled me on my academic progress (straight A's, fyi) in the program. The trouble started with my mentor teacher who was constantly undermining and sabotaging me in her classroom. So, I pleaded my case to these 12 faculty members and lost, and was unable to finish my student teaching there to get my teacher license. I left with just my masters degree. It traumatized me so much, that I deleted 3 years of the academic research and papers that I wrote, which included deleting my masters thesis on literacy in the classroom.

Just to say, I empathize with you. Institutional betrayal on university campuses is rampant. No one is immune. Even my own parents weren't immune. My father was harassed by his nemesis who wanted my father's job. But then my father died from cancer and his nemesis got my father's job after all. Shortly after that, the university forcefully retired my mother 2 years after my father died, b/c a younger staff member wanted my mother's job. So, they retired my mother without giving her notice. She showed up for work and was told, "Oh we've retired you. Here's your severance package."