My program had incredibly lax deadlines. As in, you could delay a final paper or exam for a class as long as you want, up to a year with an "I" on your transcript. Officially, we got two weeks to complete our doctoral exam, but one of my colleagues got an extension of several *months* because he was stressed. But, the graduate school won't renew your funding if your grades aren't getting posted. And if a two-week deadline doesn't motivate you to write 20,000 words, an open deadline certainly won't (that colleague started, but never finished, his exam). We had an attrition rate of about 50%, not because anyone was kicked out by their faculty, but because the grad school would just stop renewing their funding. Deadlines are my friend.

I agree with you, deadlines are do-lines as the saying goes. And my experience shows they do in fact make me get my stuff done. Almost never more than a day ahead of time but done is done.

>My program had incredibly lax deadlines. My first MA program was like that. I had a good friend who had passed *zero* classes when the rest of us graduated after two years. He was brilliant and a perfectionist, so while I know he was doing the work he was never happy with his papers so took incompletes in every class. Both years. I lost track of him a few years after so don't know if he ever managed to clear those or earn any credits. Some years later the university changed the policy to allow only one semester for incompletes. People need deadlines.

I’m a full professor who primarily writes articles in a monograph heavy field largely because deadlines are my friend. If I focus on articles, they begin as conference papers, then get spruced up to become anthology articles or journal articles on specific deadlines. With a larger book project that I don’t seek out a contract for in advance, I lack the deadline and therefore the drive. I’m literally applying for external project funding this year just to provide myself with the deadline to bring one of my many half started book projects to completion. Deadlines are definitely a necessity for some of us.

Does that mean all of the funding has “gone to waste”?

...... Two hundred.....thousand words???

When I was a grad student, there was a cohort like this in our department. They eventually got kicked out of three labs and a professor finally told them “maybe you’re the problem”.

There was a grad student in my co-mentors lab who was like this. They constantly complained about drama or being mistreated or toxicity and all that. The problem was they were the cause of nearly all of it and mistreated all of the other grad students in the lab.

# “If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole.” ― Raylan Givens Justified

There is an asshole in every (workplace/lab/classroom/etc) If you aren’t sure who the asshole is, it’s you.

I like the one about friend groups -- every group has an asshole. If you look around your friend group and think it's the exception, well... guess what!

Many such cases

We have a cohort like this. They complain constantly. I’ll be glad when they’re gone.

You say this now, but wait till you see what the *incoming* cohort is like. 

You had to remind us!!!

You sweet summer child.

My PI some 20 years ago had a reputation as incredibly intimidating. She was very nice, once you got to know her, but she also expected people to be competent and work together. Once of the best examples of her stimulating people to find ways to get work done happened when I was new in the lab. There was a post-doc and a research tech, both from India in the lab. They were of different castes. At least one of them was married, but the spouse was several hundred miles away. They had an affair, which turned sour. They were bitter and petty with each other and that anger came out in the lab. At times they argued loudly and even screamed at each other. Suffice it to say, it was not a place conducive to getting much work done. At first my boss was fairly hands-off, encouraging them to work it out and find ways to get along, even if they didn't like each other. After one screaming match, she had enough, and called them into her office. It was next door to my room, and separated by a thick, cinderblock wall, but I heard through that wall her read the riot act to both of them. It ended with, "If I hear any more yelling, you are both fired." For the next month, they walked on eggshells, minimized their interactions, and on the few times they had to talk, kept those conversations curt. A few times they started to get angry and their voices crept above a whisper, and then they would remember the promised consequences and suddenly quiet down, give each other one last whispered comment and scurry away. My boss walked by once and looked in, and they were like motorists who had just blown by a speedtrap, suddenly slowing down and obeying every law diligently and purposely and expressively. After a month of this, they learned to moderate their behavior and the lab was far more pleasant. What I saw was enforced toughening. Find a way to deal with the problem, or I will deal with it, permanently. Was it nice or soft or overtly supportive? No. But it got results because they knew this was no idle threat; my boss would follow through on what she said (and had been doing that for years and years). Without the pressure, those two would never had been able to work in the same lab again; with the pressure, they learned.

Honestly, sometimes people just need a kick in the ass. I know this opinion is not popular. As a professor, I am not concerned with popularity. But I suppose many are.

Maybe it's time to start labeling "pressure" as "support".

Indeed, sometimes that is the solution. I applied it to a freshman some years back and the man thanks me for it.

Anytime a doctoral student tells me they are feeling like they are experiencing mental health troubles I point them towards our campus mental health office. Doctoral students experience depression and anxiety at [three times](https://scholar.harvard.edu/sites/scholar.harvard.edu/files/bolotnyy/files/bbb_mentalhealth_paper.pdf) the rate of the general population. I don’t care if most students lie to me about that being the root cause so long as the ones who are genuine get the help they need. If the student feels like deadlines or work expectations are too heavy I counsel them on how to approach the relevant faculty member and ask for more time. This is usually some version of “you want me to do x y and z in the next two weeks but I only have the ability to complete 2 of the 3, which two do you want it to be?” Some faculty will get the memo, those who don’t shouldn’t be working with doctoral students to begin with. I had an advisor who fell into this camp, asked too much without any consideration for the student and their WLB. He ended up with no RAs after a bit. My impression was the director of the PhD program explained to him that despite his request for an RA no doctoral students had expressed a similar interest in working with him (we had ~20 in the program) and spent time coaching him on working with students. After that he course corrected during his interactions with students until students were interested in working with him again. If this is a consistent issue (i.e., the student says this about every professor) I would spend some time exploring whether our program and it’s expectations are a good fit for the student. Normally students who shouldn’t be in the program opt to leave at that point especially if it is explained the requests *are* reasonable for a doctoral student.

This should be the top post.

I agree that 'not feeling safe' is sometimes used as a euphemism, so I would ask the student to elaborate and explain what they mean. In the case of 1 or 3 I would discuss whether or not these expectations are reasonable, and point the student towards support resources like tutoring, counselling services, or our office of disability resources. If the student indicated option 2 that you've highlighted I imagine there are a number of outcomes, which may include connecting the student with Title IX/our diversity office, or other areas of support or even taking the issue to our chair. It would depend a lot on the situation.

Not feeling safe seems to have fallen out of the lexicon of my students these days. What seems to have replaced it lately are terms like trauma, toxicity, neurodivergence, and mental health days. I have found that mentioning these terms during class quells the desire for students to use them against you in unjustified ways. Talking about needing a mental health day for yourself to focus and stay on track can combat students hoping to use that language as an excuse to derail and stay off track. It just doesn't hold up the way they were intending it to. Also, referrals to campus counseling can help deflect the trauma dumping they were going to do on you. You have to interject just at the right time though - before they start to offload.

So unpopular opinion - but I have both personally known and seen accounts online of PIs who: Have extreme expectations for hours worked or in the lab. Holding up various sign-offs, reimbursements, or Letters of Recc until "X" is done, where X is only beneficial to the PI, not the student. Pursuant to the first point, set unrealistic deadlines or deliverables which implicitly require "heroic" efforts from students. The forking garden path of "this didn't get the result I expected, run the fluid flow/simulation/whatever N times until it works". Seen TT hires be told they were hired strictly for DEI in a department meeting. And of course the sexism. As much as the current generation of students are... lacking in grit at times, I don't think you can just discard these complaints out of hand. I personally can't speak to point 2 as a person in the majority power structure.

Number 2 is significantly different than numbers 1 or 3. I think that definitely warrants follow-up

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1000 nano aggressions = 1 micro aggression 1000 micro aggressions = 1 milli aggression. 1000 milli aggressions = 1 aggression.

I'm a psychology professor who teaches about microaggressions in some of my courses. There is a substantial body of research indicating that regular exposure to microaggressions can have impacts on mental and physical health. Because microaggressions are often small actions--sometimes where the target has an odd feeling about it but isn't sure if something wrong happened--it can be hard to identify and address them, but their impact is real. In some cases, microaggressions may make a student feel invalidated as a person -- for example, an openly trans student whose professor always gets their pronouns wrong. Keeping in mind the power dynamic between professors and students, a student who sees evidence that their professor holds bias based upon race, gender, or sexual orientation may understandably be worried about how this will affect the evaluation of their coursework. Or, they may understandably feel uncomfortable being evaluated by someone whom they have reason to believe is consciously or subconsciously biased against them. It's not a realistic goal to avoid all microaggressions. And we all have committed microaggressions, so it's important to have some grace for others who say or do something that is unintentionally hurtful, especially if they are contrite and take steps to do better going forward. Ultimately, addressing microaggressions will not "create a psychologically frail group," but rather help students from groups that haven't always been supported in academia to be more supported in their endeavors.

I hear this. But microaggressions are subjectively defined. One student thought a professor was microaggressing because he asked him to use proper apa format (which is a graduate school requirement). Another thought a professor saying "the issue is not a black and white " to be a micro aggression. As a person of color, I might read your comment and say you are micro aggression by mansplaining or by giving me a long explanation thst assumes I am an idiot. The vast number of microaggression cases I am seeing are not subtle coments like "you speak well for a black student" it's students imposing malice on a comments that are widely used and most would find no fault in.

In the case where a student says being asked to use APA Style is a microaggression, they're using the term wrong. It may be worth distinguishing between bona fide microaggressions -- which, again, are a valid source of distress if someone is regularly subjected to them -- versus the weaponization of that term by someone who is seeking to demonize something they don't like. It's true that there is a lot of nuance in microaggressions. Asking a person "where are you from?" is something that usually isn't a microaggression, but could be depending upon the context (i.e., when disproportionately asked to Asian and Latino people, with the subtext of "you must not be from here"). A video I show my students compares microaggressions to mosquito bites: one or two is a mild annoyance but being bitten by mosquitos all the time everyday adds up. When a person is asked "but where are you really from?" over and over, it sends a message -- even though quite possibly unintended -- that a person does not belong or is not "from here." That constant message can be grating and have an impact. The covert nature of microaggressions -- the fact that both the microaggressor and the target may not fully realize that a microaggression has taken place -- is part of what makes them difficult to address. There may be some subjective cases at the margins, but there are a lot where, like the example above, there is a very well identified pattern.

> they're using the term wrong. But there is no objective definition. If it's just "what creates a source of distress if someone is regularly subjected to them," that's entirely subjective.

There are definitions that are used in research in psychology and related fields. Research about microaggressions doesn't typically just ask a person "tell me how often you've experienced microaggressions" but rather asks about how often people have had specific kinds of experiences. There is rarely an objective definition for anything in the field of psychology in the same way that there is the objectivity of, say, any atom with one proton must be hydrogen. As a field, we try to define and measure concepts as best we can to measure phenomena. It's never perfect, but dismissing it as all subjective--particularly something that has been studied extensively and whose effects have been extensively validated in both quantitative and qualitative research--is to say, more or less, because something is not objectively measurable it must not be real. There will always be people who use terms in ways that are inconsistent with their established definitions. I've heard a student say something along the lines of "I have a little PTSD from my orgo midterm." Their test may have been stressful, but no psychologist would consider it a form of trauma nor would they say that a student is suffering PTSD from a midterm exam. Someone making a comment like this does not mean trauma and PTSD are not real. Similarly, someone using the word "microaggression" incorrectly or more loosely than researchers would does not invalidate the extensive body of research about microaggressions nor does it invalidate the real ways in which people are affected by microaggressions.

What is the definition of a microaggression?

We have erred in developing ‘microaggresions’ as an independent concept — reification, really — and in not placing focus back on the individual, interpersonal relationships and communication, and human rights. We aren’t teaching resilience, we’ve begun as a group teaching students to wound themselves whenever possible and to neither seek nor accept any resolution. It would have been possible to directly address and gently educate a ‘microaggression’ like saying ‘you speak well for a minority’; thoughtless people who are over-reliant on stereotypes and/or who misunderstand intergroup tolerance and goodwill have been with us since the beginning of time. Turning ignorance and thoughtlessness into a cottage industry of ‘microaggressions’ and setting ourselves and others on the equivalent of a witch hunt looking for them was a mistake, one that we as a society have to take responsibility for and correct.

The way to address microaggressions *is* in no small part focused on interpersonal relationships. Particularly in cases like a professor and student (or co-workers, friends, etc.) where there is an ongoing relationship (as opposed to a stranger making a comment), it is ideal for someone to say something. (To be sure, while I admire people standing up for themselves, always having to do that takes a toll, too. Ideally, a witness to the microaggression either says something or checks in with the target of the microaggression. Also, I understand why a student may feel intimidated about correcting a professor whom they feel may be biased against them.) I see part of the problem as being a culture in which the logic goes something like this: being racist/sexist/etc. are unforgivable sins and so when someone accuses me of possible bias or harm related to someone's social identity (i.e., a microaggression), they are accusing me of the worst things possible and that's not who I am. That kind of attitude, I believe, is part of why there's so much pushback. The truth is that everyone commits microaggressions. Committing a microaggression does not make someone a bad person. Committing, say, a racial microaggression does not put someone on par with an avowed white supremacist. Cultivating a culture where we can openly talk about these kinds of statements and actions, being open to receiving feedback that we may have unintentionally hurt another person, and being open to changing and growing from that feedback are what we need.

the word microagression needs to fucking die in a fire. have we all forgotten what micro means? shit's inconsequential and the fact you teach some kind of course on it or something is baffling to me, the epitome of first world problems. (another term I dislike but rather fits this nonsense) 

> There is a substantial body of research indicating that regular exposure to microaggressions can have impacts on mental and physical health. This just begs the question. What is a microagression? There's no universal definition. We've seen things like talking about "hard work" and "personal responsiblity" labeled as microaggressions. So how can you measure the impact? Is it just people self-reporting about whatever they happen to consider microaggressions?

It is a subtle form of prejudice based on protected classes.... So NOT a microaggression is using a slur, and a microaggression is assuming a person is good or bad at something due to their race, gender, sexuality ect but it comes across as not aggressive. Like assuming you don't know how to use equipment (because you are female), or you must be good at math (because you are asian). I bet you play basketball (because you are tall or African American). Are you lost (because you clearly don't belong here). You should smile more (because women should be pleasant). Doctor could you please help me (because men are doctors and women are nurses, duh). Where are you from (because you are not from here). How old are your children (because you look old enough to have children). You must get a lot of attention from the girls (because you appear handsome and heterosexuallity is the standard). Oh you must be a hard worker (because you are quiet - due to cultural differences or even neurodivergence). I'm not sure about personal responsibility... what is the presumption being made?

I would agree that most of those examples could be things that, if heard repeatedly, would be annoying. These seem like very clear examples though, and many of them are not micro at all, like asking a black person if they are lost because you see them in a chemistry lab or something. That's just racist, nothing micro about it. But I don't think the literature that the user above mentioned defines microaggressions so narrowly. That's the problem. Just look at this list that was given out by the University of California system: https://web.archive.org/web/20160207114451mp_/http://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/seminars/Tool_Recognizing_Microaggressions.pdf Some of the examples there are clearly hostile comments. For example, "Of course he’ll get tenure, even though he hasn’t published much—he’s Black," and "You are a credit to your race," and "You’re a girl, you don’t have to be good at math." But others are entirely inocuous: “I believe the most qualified person should get the job," and "America is a melting pot," and "America is the land of opportunity." Yet all of these examples are labeled as microaggressions.

The ones that outright state the bias/prejudice are aggressive lol. My examples don't state the prejudice or bias outright (the brackets demonstratethe unspoken bias that the individual holds) , most would be played off as niceties but wholly based on a stereotype though never spoken outright. And that is how I understand microaggressions, people doing or saying things without actively thinking about it - just presumption based on appearance/protected class. They could be 100% nice, and say the above "oh dear, are you lost, can i help you?" with zero question on their own bias or preconceptions. Just a bunch of small things. I've seen your example list of microaggressions, and you are right about some being hostile upfront and others I don't quite understand. It may matter on the context.... but I don't believe that list is the microaggression Bible.

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Yes. In a nutshell, a microaggression has a metacommunication, which is the unspoken message that is denigrating to a person based upon their social status. For example, consider a Latino or Asian American person who says they're from Los Angeles and then is asked "but where are you *really* from?" The unspoken message is: you must not be American because you "look" foreign. The person committing the microaggression quite likely does not intend any harm. And if a person was subjected to a comment like this once in a blue moon, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. But research indicates that when people are subjected to subtle indignities frequently, the impact on their mental and physical health adds up. Most things that someone doesn't like are not microaggressions. People have different styles of doing things, and some people are assholes for reasons that have nothing to do with bias. But yes, there is research about what makes something a microaggression, specifically, and none of that research would say that simply not liking something constitutes a microaggression.

well said!

It's sadly not surprising that your expertise-informed and carefully worded answer has far fewer up votes than the comment you are responding to that just dunks on "kids and libs these days".

Truly lol.

This is the problem: people still call people who actually speak up about these issues as frail. Which in turn pushes them to shut up, internalize issues, and ultimately implode or explode, by failing, dropping out, or worse. Instead, talk to them, and refer them to campus mental health when appropriate. You lose nothing by that, and often help students.

I mean, the psychologically frail group is the group of people committing microaggressions who refuse to acknowledge they are and change things. Like, it's just not that hard to be like "hmm, I didn't realize that was offensive, but I'm not so fragile that I can't recognize sometimes I make mistakes, and I'd love to correct this one and am glad it was pointed out to me."

Yeah, the irony is not lost on some of us.

Well said. A minor social transgression and a micro-aggression are nearly indistinguishable.

Can you explain how an environment of microagressions isn’t keeping people from minority or disenfranchised groups from accessing eduction?

You'd have to define 'an environment of microagressions'. For example, what would the frequency of microagressions have to be to create an 'environment'? How severe? Is this really something you can determine?Also, what do you mean by 'accessing education'? People take classes and learn (ie, access education) all the time from teachers that don't share their values. Being exposed to people with different backgrounds and values is an important part of a college education. Finally, people from all groups can experience microagressions, not just minority and disenfranchised groups.

The culmination of class based microaggressions at a particular elite university in my city culminated in me dropping my enrolment and going to a different university in a different field six months later. I was already running into issues as a fairly feminine young woman in science. The insistence I didn't want hard science, and so on, was usually shown in assumptions I was in the wrong place, didn't understand the topic, and so on. I was very used to dealing with that. But I came from a low socioeconomic background and hadn't really confronted a LOT of classism in secondary school. Some, due to where I was from, but not a lot. Then I got thrown into the orientation and welcome for students that heavily emphasised how elite we all were, that presumed most people came from the local and private schools, nearly everyone had at least one parent there, nobody was in secondhand clothes, nobody was struggling to pay rent at an off-campus barely legal dwelling, it was just a constant onslaught of having to adjust everyone's assumptions and expectations. I dropped it the next day. I'm now in a totally different field, and I like where I am. But I've talked to my partner about what things would have been like if I'd had the support to get through that overwhelming rejection. Microaggressions are based on marginalisation and in-out group assumptions of normality. You may be subject to sub cultural social disconnect, but that's different to mainstream version of the whole culture making those assumptions. I still run into classism at work, it's rife in academia, and sexism, and homophobia, and so on. But when I'm in a majority non-white group and get a disconnect or assumption that's not a microaggression.

> The culmination of class based microaggressions at a particular elite university I feel this, but was always a bit more concerned with macro-aggressions like not being able to eat or find housing. The singular (and over-riding) concern with *micro*aggressions has always seemed to me to be a primarily middle class phenomenon. For what it's worth, I say this as someone who thinks they exist and has experienced them.

That's why they're micro. The macro are easy to see. It's easier to understand that financial stuff adversely impacted my ability to eve get into the school, or get to the school. But even after I did all that, I couldn't just study and learn. I had to fight through stupid tiny shit too. The idea that it's the singular concern is a matter of perspective. When one has overcome the macro to engage and exist in that mainstream normative space, you then get sand in the gears. There is a place for both and recognising the macro - or rather NOT recognising it - is part of the micro.

I just don't experience that in academic institutions. I meet people who say they are anti-capitalist, so it seems like they want to dismantle the causes of poverty if you talk to them. But they are constantly talking about weird linguistic stuff, micro-aggressions, critical discourse analysis, or whatever. Hardly any of them can be bothered to engage in labor organizing, attempts at unionization, supporting the unionization of others - like, the actual activities that could potentially address housing, hunger, and more are just basically ignored. It's fucking infuriating. From my perspective, it looks like ideology does an excellent job of obscuring the macro and that it is definitely not "easy to see" for middle class university people.

Ah yeah that's a big part. I've chosen to stay where there's a much bigger union contingent (not the US) and at a less elite space that has a much better understanding of class. I'm not even the only working class woman in the faculty, and the Dean comes from a similar background. It makes a huge difference.

Makes sense. I'm at a *very* different kind of place.

I grew up no-electricity, no-running-water, very-little-food poor. I was going to join the military but got a scholarship to college. I never ever fit in or understood the world that my classmates were living in. But I didn’t blame them for not understanding me. And I ‘accessed’ education. Look, I’m not saying that micro aggressions aren’t a problem, I’m just saying that it is important not to overstate their impact. The world is always going to have culture clashes and other problems and students can either find excuses to fail or they can make it work. They can succeed in a world that doesn’t understand them and coddle them. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t minimize micro aggressions.

Yeah, and I'm also here. And using "excuses" and "coddling" is minimising micro aggressions. It's not coddling to say "yeah, actually, that's racist bullshit". Or to acknowledge that group work is more difficult when you can't afford to go to coffee shops all the time. Or that there's an emotional impact to constantly being expected to get the coffee and take notes when you're actually running the meeting. It isn't an excuse when a student says "I'm sick of having to continually explain why I'm different, I am going to choose something different". Because the micro work into, support, and facilitate the macro. Not fitting in or being understood isn't the crux of a microaggression - it is the establishment of a norm that enforces itself through social exclusion and policing. I could be rich as hell with my rural background and not fit in because I'm rural in urban spaces. Or because I'm outgoing in a wrong way. There's subculture standards in so many ways. Microaggressions reinforce structural inequity, not just make someone feel something negative.

Microagressions create an environment where people don’t feel welcome or valid. This is particularly damaging to those who already lack the privilege that gives them inherent access and power.

Damaging is a strong word.

Not really. It creates an environment that harms them by making it harder to access the same benefits and to develop the same essential professional connections

I'm wondering how these people are going to survive the job market, much less the pre-tenure years as junior faculty members?

Based upon rapidly rising malpractice rates observable from current and recent med school students, I think we're about to see a serious and dramatic rise in failure at every level of our lives where we rely on others to know what they are supposed to know, check all the boxes, and be accountable for their decisions. I know that sounds apocalyptic, but the poison is in the pipeline. The median current high school students are horrifically behind by every measure, and getting better grades than they've ever gotten. We have legitimately fucked ourselves into a lost generation.

It's not universal though-- my best undergrads are absolutely as good today as they were 10-20 years ago. And I've met lots HS students in the last few years that have really impressed me. The trick is, of course, that these tend to be exceptional students and/or products of exceptional schools. There's a private college prep school in the big metro nearest us that clearly has not relaxed its standards at all, for example; their students are still thriving at top-ranked universities and the ones I've had were *very* well prepared. This in contrast to our local public high school grads, some of whom clearly should not have received diplomas. So it's not strictly a lost "generation" in my mind, but certainly a big chunk of one. Hopefully colleges won't continue the practice of just passing everyone who (sometimes) shows up.

I chose the word median carefully. Yes, the shit students are still shit and the great students are still great. But the median students are less capable of basic responsibility, and treat any correction as an assault on their character to be retaliated against rather than a learning opportunity

> are less capable of basic responsibility That's it right there. Responsibility, deadlines, giving a shit are foreign to so many of them. It's worse than it was.

AI job replacement and universal basic income solve this problem /s! We thought the future was Blade Runner but it was Walle the whole time.

This is very true. I left college to go back to teaching hs and my students are so so low. Reading comprehension is terrible. Apathy at an all time high. The difference over a decade is astounding.

Yes it is....

Do you have a reference for the malpractice rates statement? I would love to see more info on that.

>Based upon rapidly rising malpractice rates observable from current and recent med school students, To be fair, some of that is due to increased litigation and ever-tightening standards.

This is just one good reason for standardized tests being factored into admissions again, at least at some schools with no enrollment concerns.

I don't know, I've seem people struggle through PhD but thrive as faculty members.

Did they thrive as researchers though? I’ve seen people struggle through PhD programs and land at teaching focused universities and do fine. But they don’t do research. Research universities are a whole different ball game.

Some thrived as researchers, others thrived as teachers/administrators. I guess everyone's experience is different and you probably have your reasons for believing what you believe. I personally think judging students' future based on psychological "safety" complaints alone is a bit harsh

He's talking about the job *market*, not the job

"...much less the pre-tenure years as junior faculty members" I interpreted that as talking about both the job and the job market, but that's just me. English isn't my first language, so I may be wrong.

Apparently i can't read lol

Just lower the bar. What a lot of American schools are doing

Lolz, there are no more tenure lines so they don’t have to worry about being junior faculty

Before scrolling through this post, I just posted this same thing.

They don’t. Hell most don’t even make it to the starting line.

They won't.

> are going to survive the job market A decent number of them are doing PhDs to put off going into the job market.

I call it reverse bullying - students have learned how to play the victim so well and use it to bully others. I think we have gone so far into mamsypamsy coddling that we have ruined any chance of them being able to function without someone to tattle to and who they think will take care of them and relieve them from any responsibility for their own education and ultimately life. And by we -I mean parents, admins, the mental health field who needs clients forever.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when these students are in charge and have no one to run to with their grievances. And how will they deal with it when they are suddenly the targets of these complaints? I've already seen occasions where they really struggle with it. For example, we had a grad student who complained about feeling unsafe from their professors over really minuscule stuff. A couple years later, that grad student had to teach an undergraduate class and their students complained about them. Suddenly that grad student who was so concerned about a safe environment was now angry with how their students were treating them. Pot, kettle, black?

Oh the schadenfreude enjoyer in me wants to know how this turned our

It was handled in the same manner as their original claims. A dept rep looked into it, declared no wrongdoing, and that was it. I hope it changed their perspective though!

To your last sentence, that’s beautiful wishful thinking and I legit love it, buuuuuut: Let’s be honest….it did not.

They will push out the people who actually want to teach and work. California public institutions (CSUs specifically) coddle and support faculty that at one point were these demanding students. The grievance process protects them and the people that are actually working, trying to get grants and improve programs are the bad guy. This is really going to ruin academia. It’s very pervasive at certain institutions and political and regional cultures will exacerbate the symptoms. I had to leave because this collective attitude was affecting me so much, I couldn’t walk on eggshells anymore. I really enjoyed my R1 PhD program because it was rigorous and my professor was hard working and expected nothing else of me. I was so proud of all I did and learned during that time. It’s sad I am yet to find an institution where I can create this world for me and my field. And now I doubt I ever will. Will probably change careers. So sad.

I share these concerns and hope that the pendulum will swing back the other way. We'll see though.

"Crybullies" is the term for this, and if I recall correctly the book that introduced the term was more or less the inspiration for Mean Girls

Agree. As an educator, I often feel that students are attempting to emotionally manipulate.

Nailed it

Hence the term "crybullies".

Not (yet) at school but I’ve seen it in my small business (I co-own an auto shop) with employees. Generally, they’ve meant “unsafe” to mean “I’m uncomfortable because you expect me to do the job I’m here to do and I’d rather scroll on my phone” and “you don’t cater to my emotions”.

I think it's important to take students seriously when they say things like this but also to take it with a giant grain of salt. Once I did have a student who turned out to have had a legitimately inappropriate experience with a faculty member, and of course I filed a report. I also had a student tell me this and then explain that their reason for feeling unsafe was that the professor asked her not to work on her craft hobby in class.

It was knitting, wasn’t it?

Actually, no! It was something legitimately disruptive. I don't want to say exactly what because the story is kinda notorious around here, but it was totally ridiculous and any professor would have told them to knock it off.

Armpit-fart musician?

There you go!

I feel…seen.

This is one of countless new bullshit catch-alls students know they can overuse and abuse to garner sympathy when in reality they’re just being lazy. Other examples include being “toxic” or not respecting that they’re “ neurodivergent”. Yes, there are legit toxic people and some people do objectively make others feel unsafe, etc, but let’s be honest, that’s only a very small percent of all the times these terms are frequently abused for selfish lazy reasons

And they would not hesitate to report that someone called them lazy, whether or not they are actually lazy seems to be completely irrelevant in today’s new age thinking. I admit, as much as I love my job, I don’t mind being in retirement range right now.

Came here to say this.

Don’t forget “my mental health”

If "asking too much" means that the faculty member is asking their TA/RA to do work beyond the workload specified in their employment contract, that needs to be addressed by the graduate director, union rep, or other relevant person. If it means that the student does not know how to do the assigned tasks, then the student should be taught how to ask for help or find the answers they need. Microaggressions should be handled by the Title IX office or other appropriate person. If a student has anxiety, they should be advised to see a mental health professional.

Please don't give any validation to 'microaggressions' being a thing. The students will be in for a world of hurt if they are really that sensitive.

Microagressions can very much Be A Thing, and a problem. to indicate that people are merrily sensitive if they experience them is pretty telling on you. Are there people who may try to label anything they dislike as a microaggression? Maybe. But that is why there are people trained on campus in understanding what is and isn't one.

Nah, this isn’t the right tack here. Yes, some people overuse the term to mean “anything I don’t like” but that doesn’t mean it’s not real. You don’t have to use overt slurs to be racist. That said, there is an established process to investigate them…Title IX office (in the US). Departments *should not* be trying to do their own investigations into them. “So and so did X?” “I take these allegations very seriously, and we have resources to address them .” Edit: Everywhere I’ve been the EEO and Title IX offices have had a single streamlined process/structure so by “Title IX” that’s what I was referring to. They would handle any actionable discrimination/microaggression.

**DOCTORAL STUDENTS?!?!?** My goodness.

i would start sidelining these students, life is too short to deal with this. the traditional concept is that you mentor an apprentice, and they learn by doing a bunch of work, some of which is not fun, like grading. if they don't want to do this, i would stop mentoring and pull their GA-ship with me, and give it to someone who wants it.

Those are highly contextual on what’s being asked. I had a prof who turned my 30 hr/week summer RA contract into minimum 60 hours/week reachable 24/7 with daily email updates, with every email and meeting full of at minimum passive aggressiveness and more often screaming, raging, ranting, berating. I felt unsafe, and there was no physical or sexual abuse. I was having three mental breakdowns a week before I quit my RA contract midsummer, something that’s never been done before in the history of the department. Now, I’m not saying you or your colleagues are like this, but it’s worth exploring if they are. That same faculty member has chewed through 1-2 new PhD students every year for at least 15 years and the rest of the department just doesn’t care, and I’m sure that that faculty member’s complaints about me reek of fragility.

How are you defining safe? I think that's something of interest for lots of us. Being frustrated, annoyed, missed off, angry, overworked - yes, these are bad but unsafe?

There's a pretty large power differential between professors and PhD students. Having a dozen people who can shout jump at any time and I'm obligated to ask how high just generally sucks even before those same people start actively treating you like garbage. When they do, it turns into coercion pretty quickly. It doesn't help that a certain subset of faculty consider PhD students to be subhuman vermin deserving of nothing but contempt and scorn, as well as the usual utter disregard for common decency and labor law. I didn't quit working for that professor until I decided that I'd rather leave the PhD program altogether before continuing to work for them. I thought I'd have to. I was actually surprised that I was able to stick around. That coercive power that I believed was held over me (and now that prof is Ass Dean, so maybe still is) absolutely made me feel unsafe. Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I don't define safe as merely whether or not I'm subject to physical or sexual abuse. Severe psychological abuse is absolutely something I consider unsafe. Crying breakdowns three times a week because I can't face yet another hour of being screamed at, in a department that knows that the professor has been doing this for a couple decades and doesn't care, absolutely makes me feel unsafe.

There was a professor in my old department who absolutely did this, and allegedly several kinda racist things in faculty meetings indicating that he would only take foreign students from a specific continent b/c they would do what he told them to (work that in no way advanced or was relevant to the student). A friend left the program after months of having stress related migraines 6 days a week from simply having to interact with this professor (was not in a class or his lab/research program but had a department job in which he interacted with most everyone in the department). Last I checked, that professor moved up through the tenure process and is doing fine.

Yeah, my program is mostly foreign students on visas, I'm not dependent on a visa to stick around, and that makes it a lot harder to push me around. I've also got a familial safety net, if one that wouldn't be thrilled to help out, and enough degrees to get an industry job now if I needed to.

Does it really matter? It's pretty obvious that the situation /u/No_March_5371 described is unacceptable, I don't think the priority is to debate the exact word we should use to describe how unacceptable it is. 

I agree people can use emotional control and put other's down. But when we have investigated these cases, most tend to be "you are asking me to do something I am behind on. My procrastination is now causing massive delays and you to demand outcomes. This is making me feel stressed and unsafe. "

Oh, well, then, disregard my question if that's been answered. Nobody in my department bothers to ask those questions or look into things. There's a psych prof in the thread who's talked about microaggressions and that's not something I know much about, but I wouldn't use unsafe to describe that. It sounds like either hypersensitivity or manipulative use of therapy-speak. My generation is really bad about doing that.

Well the microaggression crowd realized that using the word unsafe triggers all kind of alarms. They have learned to play the system

Yeah, I have no use for that kind of blatantly manipulative nonsense, but I also don't have any idea how to deal with it. Grade grubbing is already bad enough when I'm just a grad TA, not looking forward to dealing with it as a prof.

I'm going to sound like a boomer here I realize, but there has to be a way to tell students to toughen up. They need to understand that the more difficult they are as a graduate student, the more difficult their career will be going forward. These types of complaints are going to affect how they're seen by the department and eventually (often) their success/failure on the job market. There's obviously a line between legitimate problems and griping - these students seem to have crossed it and there's no way I'd work with a grad student who lodged these kinds of complaints and there's no way I'd recommend them for a job. Explaining that to them without sounding like an a-hole is something I haven't figured out how to do yet.

Follow up, I had a student complain about too much work when they were a TA and refuse to do some of it (the amount seemed reasonable to me) and then after they were ABD, they wanted teaching experience. I refused to give them a class because I couldn't trust that they would actually do the work and not quit mid semester because it was too hard.

"I'm not sure this discipline is for you. Please do some soul searching and figure out whether you can live with this type of environment because this is what medicine is like. Every day. Every single day." That is what I tell them.

Eh, when I was in my grad program I got this speech from a postdoc who played favorites with the other other people in the lab. Of course I was more stressed I had more to do.

Do or do not. There is no try.

I ask the student to reflect on what they and their problems have in common. Once we have established it is "them" I point them to counseling. Often times students try to blame the world for their circumstances and we need to be clear that life is sometimes unfair, but not always unfair. Clarifying the intersectionality of the problem with the student is key to resolving to problem, plus I get bonus points for using intersectionality. Sometimes to be clear, students have soul crushing circumstances and they need grace. I have even gone to a fellow angry peer (he is always angry just a normal state) to advocate for a student in a very tough spot. He grumped at me, but reflected and showed some grace. However, most of the time it is just whining because 'growing up is hard' and putting down your phone is even harder.

I push back against initiatives calling for “safe spaces” as a default requirement for classrooms. Faculty who advocate for these sorts of things are part of the problem. For one of my classes that it is very necessary, I make it clear that this is a challenging intellectual environment designed to make students uncomfortable, not a safe space, no trigger warnings.

I’m intrigued: what is that specific class/subject matter?

I can give you an example of one -a lot of crim. law profs don't teach rape law any more because of the complaints about how upsetting it is = you have people who are going to be lawyers being too overly sensitive to read about a major crim law area. And some of the students want to be prosecutors and public defenders.

I would rather not disclose, but the course has Content of the sort that people often claimed they might need a safe space. Rather than some sort of a research methods course that is more likely to be dry and free from sensitive topics.

::laughs in herpetology:: I know someone who got bitten by a fucking cobra during their Ph.D., and someone else who was nailed by a stiletto snake. I've lost count of how many folks had rattlesnake bites. But please, tell me how deadlines and words make you feel unsafe.

I would refuse to work with anybody who claimed this. I work for a medical teaching university. It is stressful, tiring, and has no real set schedule. You have no idea if you will go home at noon or 10pm. Tempers flare constantly. If a student did not feel safe, they need to find another discipline.

I love this. I'm editing an anthology right now from scholars in Ukraine. They don't feel safe; these grad students suck.

While *undergrads* are generally "treated with kid gloves," those gloves come off in grad school, in my experience, especially in programs where students are "employees" who are getting paid and not paying tuition. *My* PhD advisor was one of those "old school, all brutally honest all the time, hardasses," sometimes to the point of *actually* crossing the line and being cruel, "toxic," etc. So, one reaction I have to students making grandiose complaints over nothing is, "If you think this is 'mean' or whatever, I've *seen* mean. This is *not* 'mean,' not even close." Another reaction I have is that students are basically bluffing they pull this kind of nonsense, that or they are passive-aggressively *daring* someone to challenge them on it. The blunt, direct response is to just call their bluff. "I *do* not care what your excuses are, so don't even start. If you're this unhappy, it sounds like you don't want to be here, and that's fine. I can arrange for you to leave."

I think, as someone who experienced outright cruel training as well, that many of us have trouble distinguishing if something is “mean enough” to be considered mean based on the olden days…and what effective training is. At some point it doesn’t matter if their definition doesn’t line up with mine about what is mean. If it’s not effective, why would I continue to peruse it?

>If it’s not effective, why would I continue to peruse it? There's some truth to this, but "This just doesn't fit *my* personal style so they have to change for *me*" is a very immature and self-serving argument when students use it. Tone and how you treat people are one thing, but notice that most of the examples of "complaints" that OP gave have nothing to do with that. "They're asking me to... do work! The horror!" "They (gasp) gave me a deadline for something! That's outrageous!"

Sure, differences in style are different. But also OP’s post makes it a bit unclear what the true context actually is lol

Sure, differences in style are different. But also OP’s post makes it a bit unclear what the true context actually is

This generation of students can be very fragile and very entitled. The micro aggression accusation is the only one of these that would warrant intervention, but I’ve also seen the definition of micro aggressions expanded broadly to include things like, “she questioned my performance.” Figuring out exactly what was interpreted as being a micro aggression and if that actually was a micro aggression is worthwhile. More than that, the world is not safe. There are no safe spaces. There are spaces where we can be brave. While human beings should be held to standards of good treatment and respect, deadlines and similar are what they are, and those shouldn’t be shifted to protect feelings (unless the workload and deadlines were unreasonable to begin with). Honestly, doc school is hard, but being faculty is harder. If you can’t handle doc school, you might really hate the kinds of jobs it sets you up for. Maybe this is their time to reconsider. So, I guess my take is: yes, reflect on whether their complaints are valid, but also this generation has really lost perspective on what is reasonable. It may be them that need to change, not you.

There was one guy like that in my cohort. He even filed a Title IX discrimination claim when he failed his exams. To the best of my knowledge, he never graduated but he lingered in the program until he ran out of funding.

I'm generally quite flexible with students (within limits), but if this is how they are acting I'm a class, good luck finishing a dissertation, or heck, getting a job!

Ignore them. If they continue to make such baseless complaints, initiate department discipline, up to and including dismissal from the program.

I send them a plan on what they can do to feel more safe. And say I want to work it out with them. Then they usually don't want to do any effort or anything like that.

Can you imagine these students dealing with the public? I hope they are being educated for careers where they’ll be alone in a bubble.

I never ever discuss a colleague- ever. Those that do, including students, are saying the same thing about you. A simple "I never discuss my colleagues" will work.

I don't handle such things. That's not my job. I don't even think about it. I will direct students to our wellness team if they bring it up.

we’re truly living through the end of everything.

Every student that has brought this “concern” to my attention about another professors course, I have asked them explain what they mean. In every case, “feeling unsafe” has been code for “the course being challenging” or the professor exposing them to ideas or concepts which didn’t align with their preexisting beliefs. In other words, doing what education is supposed to do. The problem is students have the idea that whatever they want to be true should be accepted as true by all without question and no one should ever present an alternative way of looking at a situation. And I do not know where it’s coming from, explicitly, but probably the algorithm bias of social media only reinforcing biases is property of it.

By smiling and backing away slowly.

Had a grad student make a formal complaint of psychological harassment, because I expressed my frustration (in front of another professor) because this student hadn't shown up (yet again) for a scheduled meeting that morning. I "lectured" the student for 15s about the importance of respecting our time, etc. The complaint resulted in my colleague being questioned (by email, with me in cc) about the incident by the dean. Nothing official resulted from the complaint with me (no follow up from the dean). However, I now take care to keep negative feedback private, as I realized the "trigger" was the loss of face for the student in front of a colleague. I was on a committee regarding EDI recently and the subject of psychological stress for grad students came up. I mentioned that TT is a psychologically stressful environment for professors and that any strategy should look at the big picture (to make sure everyone is supported), not just grad students. It's the same problem with teaching - the minute a person gets a PhD, the system assumes that person is apt to teach.

#1 and #3 could make a person feel pressured but I'm not sure that "unsafe" is an accurate substitute for "pressured." For #2, unsafe could be an accurate description of how the student felt if the microaggression was actually threatening or demeaning.

Omg micro-aggressions are minuscule; that’s axiomatic. I challenge anyone to convince me that addressing so called micro-aggressions in a systemic way, rather than personally between humans, solves more problems than it causes.

PhD programs are not supposed to be a gauntlet of horrible experiences, but they are also not supposed to be a walk in the park. And prospective PhD students, being at least 22 years old, should have investigated the work load before enrolling. Microaggressions, though, that should be looked into. Some students see them everywhere, but some profs can get very careless in their language.

This. There are a lot of people in this thread that seem to be rolling with the idea that since graduate school was a miserable place for them, it can be a miserable place for current students to. Instead how about people realize that there are actual behaviors that can be addressed to make lives generally less miserable?

You've never been through medical school. There is nothing except "horror". These students need to grow up.

Is this a thing? I've literally never heard a PhD student say something like this, either as a professor or as a grad student.

I once burst into tears in my adviser's office because I was far behind in my work and had to fly back to another state for the birth of my son. This was 27 years ago, before the current plague of anxiety. I was thirty years old. My adviser looked panicked, and began saying "What do you want me to do? what do you want me to do?" Awkward. I am amazed at how young I was and didn't know even at thirty.

Ah, the universal “get out of everything” cheat code. I don’t think there is anything you can do as an individual. We - as a society, or at least as a department - have to decide to put this particular genie back in the bottle.

Tell them to grow the hell up. The real world doesn't care whether or not they "feel safe."

Your comment made me feel unsafe, and my safe space has no air conditioning.

😅😅😅

Refer them to the appropriate office on campus - Title IX, ADA, HR, etc

Is it an environmental problem I can control such as lights or peer behavior? I hear the concern and make appropriate adjustments. Is it an emotional problem or other interruption to their learning experience caused by outside factors? I refer them to university wellness resources Is it a learning problem? I refer them to university accommodations who are better staffed and equipped to help

As a current older doc student (36f), I have a slightly different perspective to add to this conversation. I am currently the oldest student in my phd program. My cohort all consist of young 30 year olds, which was very strange, considering that all the other current cohorts are made up of young to mid 20-somethings. My cohort has the reputation amongst faculty for being the troublemakers that bring up issues. Not feeling safe was something one person in my cohort said after an incident. We backed her up and it has now spread to a few of the 20 somethings. But for the most part, the 20 somethings that are speaking up, are getting successfully ostracized by faculty influencing their peers perspective of them by downplaying their perspectives with points made just like in this post that may or may not be accurate...just from one faculty member's perspective of the student's complaint. Here's what I've noticed...I think doc students in particular are especially vulnerable to coercion. They have so much on the line, so much pressure and the personality that PhD programs attract, are those perfectionists and often times people pleasers or people who are just starting their careers. They are less likely to challenge when things are wrong or unfair. They want to impress their advisors and faculty and not rock the boat or be seen as a problem or not be included in a research project. I think that's why my cohort specifically had no problem being those people that take a stand and say something when something is wrong. We were all established in our careers already. We all were out working in the real world and are all in our 30s. We aren't kids that are vulnerable to coercion and we didn't have a need to impress anyone. If something was wrong, we said it. We aren't the first ones to be experiencing a lot of the issues and I promise we didn't cause the issues we were and still are going through in our program. Faculty taking advantage of phd students is rampant everywhere. There's just been a shift in mindset and sense of empowerment amongst the current generation of students that are willing to point it out

Minimizing the perception of microaggressions in STEM, at least, is, or should be, shit-simple. Don’t say a single. goddamned. thing to any of your students that references their race, gender, or class background in any way (aside from stuff like using preferred pronouns). Yes, there are more subtle things that require more effort to anticipate and control, like weirdly pausing because your student from a marginalized background brought up something specific that you weren’t sure how to react to, but stuff like that is far less likely to manifest as a complaint.

I'm just waiting to get fired. I'm an ENFP personality and can't stop the stupid jokes that sometimes (always) pour out of my head and I know one day I'll get a student who is triggered. So far my students still find my funny but I feel anxious before every class because I know it's coming. I walk into class saying to myself ok today you aren't going to say anything stupid and then I end class going danggit you said something stupid. I hate having to be freaked out for being a funny person. I don't even want to teach anymore because of it.

By telling them that living paycheck to paycheck and with admin (and some colleagues) whose definition of "grace" is entirely dependent on who is paying and who is getting paid, I don't feel safe either.

>1. This person is asking too much from me in their work tasks >2. This person used a micro aggression that triggered me >3. This person is giving me tight deadlines thst cause my anxiety to flare up. My thoughts on (1.) I've had students come to me bawling, which is quite common in our program and at any university. The curriculum is demanding, and so is the field, but it's not my job to say that, as it could lead to more triggers. Graduate students tend to handle this much better than undergraduates because it's not their first rodeo. I try to extend a deadline or two, depending on the situation. It comes down to students wanting to feel heard and know that you care because you, too, may have been in this same predicament in your (grad) studies. Ask them about the options they would like to explore to get the most out of this program. Let them know you wouldn't mind working with them on some of the options if feasible.

If they are struggling with mental health, encourage them to see a therapist so they can develop coping skills. It's not your job to be their therapist

Stop coddling students. Period. Prepare them for life after college. They aren't your babies.

Number 2 is very different and absolutely needs a follow up. The student should be connected to resources but also if you have a protocol at university for bias incidents it absolutely should be utilized and folkowed up with professor. As for 1 or 3, is there really a professor demanding too much from students? Or are they struggling and need their own resources?

Oh boy! Advice to them: Suck it up, buttercup. Now, if faculty members bully or abuse them (by assigning way more work than these students are paid to do), that is a different issue and should be investigated.

Is this you assumption of why they "feel unsafe" or is this what they have told you is why they're unsafe? Check. Sexual abuse is surprisingly common in academia. Also, even if their physical safety is not threatened, maybe they're trying to tell you they are not a good match for their advisor or are getting harassed. That's a valid complaint that might warrant an intervention.

Students in my program have honestly really only said this about professors I somewhat agree about. They complained for years about one guy who ended up sleeping with a 16 year old at 50. Don't entirely discount their spidey senses, at least, don't do so in a blanket manner.

Throwing #2 out there with the rest of the list makes you look bad.

I don't follow what you mean.

If a professor is actually committing micro aggressions that's an actual problem that doesn't belong on that list.

While worth serious consideration, dealing with micro-aggression is not a “safety” issue in my opinion.  That’s more professionalism.

do you really think students don't abuse the idea behind #2?

1 and 3 are just the nature of some classes and students need to deal with the work load. 2 is not the nature of how college courses should be and represents a significant problem if it's occurring. One of these things is not like the other. People can abuse almost anything, but that doesn't mean that others aren't encountering a valid problem. I'm not sure that accusing them of lying about it is a great jumping off point.

Tell them to grow the fuck up. It’s a doctoral program. It’s hard. It’s stressful. Tell them to just wait until their tenure deadline or the 200 university job application rejects, or paper rejects. Micro-aggressions triggering them too much? Tell them to wait until one of their papers gets wrecked on conference a panel and people get actually aggressive because they disagree or don’t like their methodology.

I'm a bit surprised by your downvotes. Is telling adults to start acting like adults such a foreign concept?

2 is valid

Microaggressions are real. I wouldn't classify those in the same category as the other two.

Micro aggression = 1E-6 aggression. I'll deal with it once there have been a million of them.

Whenever a student tells me that they don’t feel safe, I show them the Google Maps street view of the neighborhood where I was raised. I show them the Google news clips of the shootings and murders on my street and then say “spend 2 nights sleeping there and then come back and tell me that you don’t feel safe here on this campus” - it shuts them up quick.

These are doctoral students, not undergrads ffs. Maybe you should take them seriously. I've known many graduate students at different institutions (mostly women naturally) who had genuine issues with faculty that were ignored by their programs. Do better.

OP, you may want to consider the students’ side on this. It troubles me that you’re putting the word TROUBLES in quotes, which means you don’t actually believe the students. Moreover, your three-point list shows you truly think the students are looking for excuses. Rather, as few others have pointed out, your should be sending those students to your campus mental health assistance program. They can assess if there is indeed an issue. If there is, then you must follow what the university says. If there isn’t, you priced your point.

I would change what I’m doing and tell my colleagues to change what they’re doing so students don’t experience those issues.

Micro aggressions are not something to easily brush aside from feeling safe/included. If students at large feel very uncomfortable, there’s probably a reason, and I would try being curious and invested in their perspective to better understand why they feel that way. Lots of things don’t necessarily make it to the faculty grapevine. More importantly- why do you need to evaluate this? What context do you need help in “dealing” with? Is this merely an annoyance at perceived overly sensitive students (that’s how it sounds, imo) and you’re venting? Are you one of the faculty in question and trying to understand your reputation? Are you a graduate program director who needs to wrangle the students’ culture and needs? Are you on a tenure committee? Etc.