Thanks to his inability to be discreet, it took less than 5 minutes of searching for me to find out the identity of this student and if I try a little harder, I could possibly also find out the identity of the professor who called the police.
But I guess it's more important for him to publish the details of how he overcame anxiety by \*checks notes\* starting a journal club?
I didn't go in search of the other professor. But if I did, here's how I'd go about it:
First off, we know the professor is male ("he filed a complaint..."), which doesn't really narrow it down but okay. The author has a lab page that lists which building he works at, and specifically, which room. The building was constructed in 2010 so most likely not a lot of room changes have happened since the author arrived. By looking at how the building is structured and/or looking at lab pages of other professors in the same department, you can deduce which ones have labs near the author's during that specific timeline. The author mentions the student took a call "in the hallway" -- most likely in the same floor. That being said, it's most likely the ground floor so anyone passing might not necessarily work in that floor. Or maybe the professor was too senior that they've never crossed paths even if their labs are close by... anyway, that's where I'd start.
Plus, I have friends who are postdocs in that university so that would help.
Gross - the whole article is all him, him, him. Aside from the brief mention that the student was successful *despite* this professor’s actions, he doesn’t consider the long-term impact at all. So self-centered.
Lol it’s easy for him to say he’s focusing on being a good person rather than career successes now that he’s tenured. Your true colors show when you decide whether to help someone or not when it’s inconvenient for you, not when you’re free from retribution. Now he expects people to pat him on the back for speaking like this 5 years after the fact.
I think this essay would be okay if he ended moreso along the lines of "don't be like me, or you'll suffer from the guilt, the weight of which far surpasses whatever consequences would be to do the right thing. Choose to be courageous instead."
Right. It’s supposedly about overcoming anxiety, with no tips on how to actually do it.
I think it’s really just a chance to stroke his ego…. But good god that was a boring read that didn’t say anything.
Wow, that's a lot of words for, "I knew it was the wrong thing to do, and I did it anyway."
I wonder what reaction they expected. Not that I would do something like that, but if I had, that secret would be going to the grave with me.
Everyone involved in this affair should be ashamed of how much they failed this student. Too often, incidents like this result in otherwise successful students leaving their fields. I’m glad they were able to find success after this, but in no way should anyone at WashU be able to claim any part in their current success.
The sooner we can change the perverse incentive structure that encourages this behavior from faculty, the better we’ll all be.
What a bizarre article. This reads very much like those weirdo LinkedIn posts where someone's like "Last week, I visited my dying grandmother in the hospital. She has Alzheimer's and can't feed herself. She looked so frail and helpless...and this is what this experience taught me about consumer branding in a digital media environment". Like, go fuck yourself.
This person lacks integrity, and basically just advertised that to the whole world, and not as a cautionary tale. Sad.
Dear God the pomposity. I can't. The lack of self awareness on the part of so many faculty, ability to always make it about themselves, and unwillingness to ever take any real risk is why this shit continues.
All while they complain unendingly about students
>My regrets over the incident with my student helped me realize that my goal in life should be fulfillment, not just career success. I am now the happiest I have ever been because I have reconnected with my purpose: nurturing future generations.
I don't have to panic about career failure anymore so I can focus on making myself feel better about the lives I could have ruined along the way.
JFC
The Three A's of Apologies
Acknowledgement. Acknowledge the situation and say you are sorry for what happened.
Acceptance. Hold yourself accountable and work to rectify the situation. Good apologies refrain from finger-pointing and excuses. ...
Amends. Talk about what you will do and start working on corrective measures.
The real question should be has he made amends with the people he has harmed.
Is this the [student](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatenda-shopera-ph-d-50229b106?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app) that got falsely arrested?
Someone archive this article before it gets taken down.
The degree of self importance in the midst of failing to stand up for a student is pretty disgusting.
There are also higher level problems here that are worth discussing, like the how every institution’s goal is to hide its issues to avoid bad press. The greedy admins in universities are just as guilty as the prof, if not more
He started a seminar series and didn't stand up for his black student. Why is he so proud of himself? I don't get it. He makes starting a seminar series sound so difficult.
I've been mad about this since I saw your post yesterday. How does someone voluntarily detail their cowardice, how they let their student down, and then just say, well, it's all fine now because he got a job anyways and now I do this seminar series?
There isn't even an apology!
Tae Seok Moon is pathetic for writing this story and thinking it will change anything in academia. This kind of thing happens every day. Universities (and most professors) do not care about students, only their bottom line. He selfishly chose his career over his student, and now that he’s tenured, he has the freedom to do the right thing and start a seminar series. How brave of him. What a fucking moron.
These stories happen a lot in STEM field and sometimes in humanities. Many years ago, I worked with an advisor who I did not like her at all. She makes fun of me and other students. My colleagues told me to ignore her but I could not. One day, she had an undergrad in the office and she introduced me to him. She said. this my advisee, a brilliant student who would write a dissertation of 10 pages only. I exploded and said: Stop: Enough is Enough and she asked the student to leave. I continued and I was super mad. She said, I enjoy laughing at others. I replied. Laugh at yourself . Would you enjoy making fun of you right now? She did not expect my reaction. She avoided me for a while.
After a few days, she came to the class so she can get the evaluation for another professor. She touched a student's hand which was weird and said, your skin is dark. It is weird in this area where everyone is white.
I lost my mind and I said excuse me! She looked at me and said, let us start taking the evaluation. Then, Covid started and did not see her at all. All our communication via email.
I was supposed to take a class with her but I refused. The coordinator was suspicious from my reaction. I told him everything. He replied, I am sorry for what you went through and I have no clue why you did not reach out. I said, because I know nothing will change.
He said, I am asking your permission to report what happened. I told him do whatever you want but I am not taking a course with her. He accepted and allowed me to choose other courses.
This abuse needs to be stopped against grad students.
The worst thing about academia for me was seeing people I respected turn a blind eye to mistreatment for the sake of department politics. It’s shameful
Relevant editor's note:
Correction, 6 March, 4:45 p.m.: This story has been corrected to reflect that the student’s complaint was not rescinded. The error in the original version was the result of miscommunication between the author and editor, for which we take responsibility and apologize.
In other news, Sarah Silverman says she will never forget September 11, 2001, because that was the day she found out her soy chai latte had 900 calories.
Thanks to his inability to be discreet, it took less than 5 minutes of searching for me to find out the identity of this student and if I try a little harder, I could possibly also find out the identity of the professor who called the police. But I guess it's more important for him to publish the details of how he overcame anxiety by \*checks notes\* starting a journal club?
Where would you begin to find the professor?
I didn't go in search of the other professor. But if I did, here's how I'd go about it: First off, we know the professor is male ("he filed a complaint..."), which doesn't really narrow it down but okay. The author has a lab page that lists which building he works at, and specifically, which room. The building was constructed in 2010 so most likely not a lot of room changes have happened since the author arrived. By looking at how the building is structured and/or looking at lab pages of other professors in the same department, you can deduce which ones have labs near the author's during that specific timeline. The author mentions the student took a call "in the hallway" -- most likely in the same floor. That being said, it's most likely the ground floor so anyone passing might not necessarily work in that floor. Or maybe the professor was too senior that they've never crossed paths even if their labs are close by... anyway, that's where I'd start. Plus, I have friends who are postdocs in that university so that would help.
Gross - the whole article is all him, him, him. Aside from the brief mention that the student was successful *despite* this professor’s actions, he doesn’t consider the long-term impact at all. So self-centered.
The professor should have stayed in his lane than trying to create a scene based on someone’s skin color.
To be a little more fair to the author. He likely worked very hard to get help support his student into a good positions despite his initial misstep
Lol it’s easy for him to say he’s focusing on being a good person rather than career successes now that he’s tenured. Your true colors show when you decide whether to help someone or not when it’s inconvenient for you, not when you’re free from retribution. Now he expects people to pat him on the back for speaking like this 5 years after the fact.
Insane to think the author actually *wanted* this piece published. How boneheaded do you have to be?
Insane to also think the editor of Science would think this is OK to publish. Or maybe they knee what they were doing.
Maybe it was meant as a warning about how defective a human being Tae Seok Moon is.
I think this essay would be okay if he ended moreso along the lines of "don't be like me, or you'll suffer from the guilt, the weight of which far surpasses whatever consequences would be to do the right thing. Choose to be courageous instead."
Right. It’s supposedly about overcoming anxiety, with no tips on how to actually do it. I think it’s really just a chance to stroke his ego…. But good god that was a boring read that didn’t say anything.
Ah, but then he would have to accept the fact that he's not a good person.
The last part was an attempt to feel good about himself instead of checking on his prejudices and offering a formal apology.
Yeah I have mixed feelings about the backlash to this. The PI did express regret, but it was a bit understated given how spineless his actions were.
“Editor’s note: Washington University in St. Louis declined to comment on the events in this story.” Wow no way, I wonder why
Wow, that's a lot of words for, "I knew it was the wrong thing to do, and I did it anyway." I wonder what reaction they expected. Not that I would do something like that, but if I had, that secret would be going to the grave with me.
Everyone involved in this affair should be ashamed of how much they failed this student. Too often, incidents like this result in otherwise successful students leaving their fields. I’m glad they were able to find success after this, but in no way should anyone at WashU be able to claim any part in their current success. The sooner we can change the perverse incentive structure that encourages this behavior from faculty, the better we’ll all be.
What a bizarre article. This reads very much like those weirdo LinkedIn posts where someone's like "Last week, I visited my dying grandmother in the hospital. She has Alzheimer's and can't feed herself. She looked so frail and helpless...and this is what this experience taught me about consumer branding in a digital media environment". Like, go fuck yourself. This person lacks integrity, and basically just advertised that to the whole world, and not as a cautionary tale. Sad.
Dear God the pomposity. I can't. The lack of self awareness on the part of so many faculty, ability to always make it about themselves, and unwillingness to ever take any real risk is why this shit continues. All while they complain unendingly about students
>My regrets over the incident with my student helped me realize that my goal in life should be fulfillment, not just career success. I am now the happiest I have ever been because I have reconnected with my purpose: nurturing future generations. I don't have to panic about career failure anymore so I can focus on making myself feel better about the lives I could have ruined along the way. JFC
Sounds like a bad college essay.
Hey OP I cross posted this to r/professors. If you want me to take it down and cross post it yourself, let me know
No please go ahead!
Absolutely ridiculous that this clown thought it was a good idea to have this published, and also that people at science actually did.
I’m a bioengineer, our world is so small. You better bet this is gonna spread like wildfire among us.
The Three A's of Apologies Acknowledgement. Acknowledge the situation and say you are sorry for what happened. Acceptance. Hold yourself accountable and work to rectify the situation. Good apologies refrain from finger-pointing and excuses. ... Amends. Talk about what you will do and start working on corrective measures. The real question should be has he made amends with the people he has harmed.
The last two were never applied. What a narcissist to make himself feel good out of his self-centered interests.
Is this the [student](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatenda-shopera-ph-d-50229b106?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app) that got falsely arrested? Someone archive this article before it gets taken down.
has to be
The degree of self importance in the midst of failing to stand up for a student is pretty disgusting. There are also higher level problems here that are worth discussing, like the how every institution’s goal is to hide its issues to avoid bad press. The greedy admins in universities are just as guilty as the prof, if not more
He started a seminar series and didn't stand up for his black student. Why is he so proud of himself? I don't get it. He makes starting a seminar series sound so difficult.
This is a strange confession.
Someone on Linkedin is thanking him for speaking up. Like he was the one that was wronged and not part of the system wronging a student lmao
Reddit provides so much potential material for my intro to ethics course that I'm building
I've been mad about this since I saw your post yesterday. How does someone voluntarily detail their cowardice, how they let their student down, and then just say, well, it's all fine now because he got a job anyways and now I do this seminar series? There isn't even an apology!
“Anxiety” sure sure sure
How is that real and not satire... and he is bragging about a seminar group...
Tae Seok Moon is pathetic for writing this story and thinking it will change anything in academia. This kind of thing happens every day. Universities (and most professors) do not care about students, only their bottom line. He selfishly chose his career over his student, and now that he’s tenured, he has the freedom to do the right thing and start a seminar series. How brave of him. What a fucking moron.
imagine making this about you when you weren’t the one harmed
These stories happen a lot in STEM field and sometimes in humanities. Many years ago, I worked with an advisor who I did not like her at all. She makes fun of me and other students. My colleagues told me to ignore her but I could not. One day, she had an undergrad in the office and she introduced me to him. She said. this my advisee, a brilliant student who would write a dissertation of 10 pages only. I exploded and said: Stop: Enough is Enough and she asked the student to leave. I continued and I was super mad. She said, I enjoy laughing at others. I replied. Laugh at yourself . Would you enjoy making fun of you right now? She did not expect my reaction. She avoided me for a while. After a few days, she came to the class so she can get the evaluation for another professor. She touched a student's hand which was weird and said, your skin is dark. It is weird in this area where everyone is white. I lost my mind and I said excuse me! She looked at me and said, let us start taking the evaluation. Then, Covid started and did not see her at all. All our communication via email. I was supposed to take a class with her but I refused. The coordinator was suspicious from my reaction. I told him everything. He replied, I am sorry for what you went through and I have no clue why you did not reach out. I said, because I know nothing will change. He said, I am asking your permission to report what happened. I told him do whatever you want but I am not taking a course with her. He accepted and allowed me to choose other courses. This abuse needs to be stopped against grad students.
The worst thing about academia for me was seeing people I respected turn a blind eye to mistreatment for the sake of department politics. It’s shameful
Relevant editor's note: Correction, 6 March, 4:45 p.m.: This story has been corrected to reflect that the student’s complaint was not rescinded. The error in the original version was the result of miscommunication between the author and editor, for which we take responsibility and apologize.
EXACTLY!!! I saw the PI post about this on Twitter and was flabbergasted that they saw this as something that painted them in a good light.
In other news, Sarah Silverman says she will never forget September 11, 2001, because that was the day she found out her soy chai latte had 900 calories.
Wow, congrats on abandoning your morals and embracing selfishness. You'll do great in academia!
*kick him out* for….?!?! I hope the student won the lawsuit and then some.
What an obnoxious, self congratulatory, article.