Ethical Dilemmas - life vs. classes

I have a couple of what I'm going to call "ethical dilemmas" where my job and a professional opportunity conflict with school. For what it's worth, I'm a doctoral candidate (should be graduating in the spring)

I have the opportunity to co-lead a clinic for middle school students next week that I found out about earlier this week. The problem is that I technically have a class that morning. I can afford to miss it as I'm not presenting anything and there's no lecture (others are presenting). The professor can dock my grade if he so chooses. This opportunity is worth it to me. But is this wrong? Is he going to stop me from graduating (he's on my committee, at least for now-really want to take him off for other reasons)? And how do I let him know? It's not like anyone is going to check e-mail until Monday and that's when I'm not going to make it to class.

The other ethical dilemma (with the same professor OF COURSE) is where the professor announces that two evening events are now required. There is no syllabus anywhere so I feel that it's unethical to require something that hasn't been on a syllabus anywhere. One night I have to work and the next night I'm on call for work. I won't know until that afternoon whether I'm working or not, but if I am, I am. If this was known at the beginning of the semester, I could have gotten subs or arranged something and it would be fine. But it just isn't right to force me to scramble trying to make new arrangements at the last second. If there are consequences for me skipping, again I have no idea because there's no syllabus. I'm not the only one not going to these events, but I may be the only one with an actual conflict.

I'm prepared to deal with any consequences for my actions, but am I totally wrong here? I simply refuse to live in fear of a professor, especially one that I'm starting to find unethical and frankly, a bully.

I think the most important person in your committee for you for the defense of the thesis is your supervisor. If your relationship with him/her is not good, then probably you should be afraid. It doesn't mean other committee members aren't important, but usually if a member tries to corner a student in the defense, his/her supervisor will defend them, in which case the member cannot continue, at least without intellectual confrontation with the supervisor, because afterall a PhD studemt's work is his/her work, too, in a sense.

I remembered a story and I would like to share it: I know a PhD student who wasn't communicating with his supervisor, and he (the student) pushed him (the supervisor) for the proposal, and the supervisor agreed, but he (the supervisor) failed him (the student). The funny thing is that, usually supervisors defend their students, but what happened with this student is that all committee members were nice to him, except his supervisor!! I'm not sure what happenedn next, but I think according to the rules, anyone fails the proposal will be kicked out of the program.

However, a professor in or out of the committee can fail you in his/her course. In PhD failing a course is very serious. Normally, two Fs and you will be kicked out of the program. So, I would say make sure first that he/she won't fail you in the course.

In the end, thinking long-term is better than short-term. If working outside the university is conflicting with your study, try to have a TA position, for example.

Good luck

Well, for the conflict of schedules, in my environment, you are encouraged to plan your own academic development. So if you decide you'd rather do A then B, as long as it fits within the framework, you are allowed to do it.

The second one, you can't be there because you have to work? Isn't your PhD your job? Slightly confused about that. I think it is natural that your PhD comes first. I feel like the correct path would be to be there, but to attend your supervisor that she/he should give you an earlier notice next time, to prevent conflicting schedules.

Like Lonely Warrior mentioned, you don't say anything about how you communicate with your supervisor. Is that going ok? Because that's crucial.

Which option did you choose?

I had to work the first night there was a conflict, but didn't the second night. Really didn't want to be there (the whole "forced" attendance usually irks me...especially since it wasn't on a syllabus), but I went.

The clinic was changed to finals week so there ended up being no conflict.

Your life is your choice. good lucky!

If you're defending your dissertation this Spring, why are you still in coursework? Usually, you can't advance to candidacy until after all coursework is complete. Then, it's usually up to you to choose how to spend your time while finishing the dissertation and gaining professional experience. It's hard to know what to advise without understanding how your program works since it seems to work differently than others.

It does work differently in the school of music compared to other schools and departments. This is a degree denoted as a DMA rather than a PhD and focuses on creative activity instead of the standard research that would be part of PhD programs. In most (if not all) programs in the US, the DMA is the equivalent to the PhD for the music composition degree (and most programs offer the DMA instead of the PhD). In other degree "subfields" in music, the degrees are either a DMA/DM (performance and conducting for example) or a PhD (theory, education, and history for example). The DMA is a relatively new thing, making it possible for professors in the "creative/performance" side to get an equivalent degree to those in the "standard research" side.

The requirement of having all the coursework done before achieving candidacy only pertains to the required coursework and not to the full 90 hours. They push us to complete the entire degree in 3 years and to have all the 90 hours done before candidacy, I'd have to have gotten it in 2 years. Also, studio lessons are required every semester (including studio class) and possibly recital credit so it's possible to have 9 hours even without and actual "class". I think most people do that as their degree allow for them to take more of their lesson and recital hours for degree credit. I have to take more electives for whatever reason. I may be able to finish my 90 hours without a typical 3-hour class this semester, but it's possible and common to be taking classes your final semester (in my department anyway).

My dissertation is a composition and analysis, so it isn't the typical dissertation you're going to find in a research PhD.

I don't know if that makes it any clearer? I realize that music departments do things vastly different than other departments, but some of that is likely the nature of the subject.

Glad things rearranged themselves so there was not much conflict. I don't know about ethics being involved but I find it works better for me if I am committed to one thing and finish (or abandon :-) it before trying to take on too much more and spending precious energy juggling. Anything "last minute" would seem to me to be just a miscellaneous opportunity of the type that will come again whereas working for X years on a degree, that isn't miscellaneous Good luck!