'Everyone knew!' Problems with UW-Madison prof who led 'toxic' lab persisted for 2 decades

With a six-sentence resignation letter wishing UW-Madison all the best, engineering professor Akbar Sayeed left behind "a career-long string of victims" and a department that failed time and again in responding to his bad behavior, according to a newly released investigative report.

While a previous UW-Madison investigation flagged concerns about Sayeed’s conduct in the years leading up to one of his doctoral students dying by suicide — which the Wisconsin State Journal first chronicled in 2019 — a more recent university investigation examining Sayeed’s entire career found his hostile and intimidating behavior began within months of his 1997 hiring and continued even after the student’s 2016 suicide despite being on suspension for such behavior.

“There are far too many former students, dating back to his very first, and continuing through his last, who report being traumatized by the abusive treatment they received,” one witness is quoted saying in the report.

Sayeed’s behavior is emblematic of a broader bullying problem in higher education, one in which graduate students dependent on their research advisers for work, publication and glowing references can be exploited. His case also highlights the difficulties of policing bad behavior at a large and decentralized institution.

https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/everyone-knew-problems-with-uw-madison-prof-who-led-toxic-lab-persisted-for-2-decades/article_cf4fd695-609d-5a93-be98-e3c30edbcb93.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1
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Horror story at my alma mater---and how many others?