Understanding and Reporting Mistreatment

A faculty member yells at physical therapy student in front of their peers and a patient. The faculty member calls them “incompetent” and says, “how could you be so stupid?” Is this mistreatment?

Yes. This faculty member disrespected the student and interfered with their learning by creating an environment in which they could not learn from their mistake but instead was publicly shamed for it. The faculty member did not tell the student how to do better or try to find out why the student did what they did. LEO would classify this as both “verbal abuse” and “public humiliation.”

An MD student receives a lower grade than they expected in a Phase I course. The student emails the professor to ask them to raise the grade or for extra credit. The faculty member declines to change the grade or offer extra credit and tells the student it is unprofessional to ask at this point. Is this mistreatment?

No. While disappointing and perhaps upsetting to the student, this faculty member did not disrespect the dignity of the student and is not interfering with their learning by not offering extra credit.

A third-year woman resident notices that a particular attending gives first-year men residents more responsibility and complex cases than he gives her. She notices that she is allowed to do fewer procedures and is not given the more difficult tasks within procedures, even though she is more experienced than the first-year men. She asks around, and other women in the program share similar stories. Is this mistreatment?

Yes. This is differential treatment based on gender and could be a violation of several UNM policies, including Title IX. With the resident’s permission, LEO would share this report with the UNM Office of Compliance, Ethics, and Equal Opportunity as well as begin LEO’s own typical incident response process.

A PhD student is frequently belittled by his faculty mentor. The mentor makes comments about his English fluency as well as his research in ways that make it very hard for the student to feel comfortable in the lab. The student raises these concerns with another trusted faculty member in the department, who offers to speak with the mentor about it. After this conversation, the mentor begins overtly ignoring the student, even when they are the only two people in the lab, and will not answer any questions. A few weeks later, the student is contacted by their chair and told that they are not making satisfying progress towards their degree and their mentor is considering dropping them from the lab. Is this mistreatment?

Yes. The mentor’s initial behavior is likely mistreatment based on race and/or ethnicity and/or nationality. Additionally, the mentor’s behavior changed and became worse after they were told that the student complained, and now the mentor is threatening the student’s academic progress and place at UNM. This may be retaliation and may be in violation of several UNM policies.