After enduring harassment and mobbing, several of my colleagues and I decided to report our Principal Investigator (PI) to the university. The man in charge listened to us with great care as we shared our stories, crying for over an hour and a half. We made it clear how serious the situation was, explaining that our PI was using us for her own purposes, disregarding our student obligations and our need to graduate. We emphasized the toll on our mental health, noting that we were all in psychotherapy, with some of us on medication. He promised to help and protect us.
Soon after, our PI was summoned to a meeting with him and HR representatives. Since she was a young PI, she faced relatively mild consequences: she was banned from hiring new staff for a year and required to take a course on employee management. However, the repercussions for us were severe. The mobbing intensified.
A week later, she called each of us into her office individually. Her approach was aggressive; she banged objects on the table, insulted us, and called us liars, questioning how we could do this to her. When it was my turn, she wouldn’t speak without a witness, which was fine by me. She asked why I hadn’t come to her first. I replied that I didn’t trust her, citing instances where she hadn’t been truthful. She denied this, calling me a liar when I provided examples. She even questioned my health, which was unacceptable given my lifelong disability. I had pushed myself to work beyond my limits, which had cost me dearly. I raised my voice, telling her her comment was out of line, and she then apologized, claiming she didn’t mean it that way.
She then attacked my mental health, dismissing our claims by saying, “It’s like when someone gets a cat, everyone else wants a cat too.” Shocked, I retorted, “Well, maybe you should consider getting a cat too,” highlighting the absurdity of her statement. She insulted my colleagues further, trying to sow discord among us by calling one a “black hole.” Fortunately, we were close friends and saw through her tactics.
We reported this back to the university, explaining that the situation had worsened. We were told she was in a remediation program and that we had to wait it out. Our seek for protection was left unanswered. Meanwhile, in the upcoming year, the university facilitated the graduation of two colleagues that were already in their sixth year of PhD, another decided to handle the situation independently, leaving just me to navigate this nightmare.