University Of Massachusetts, Dr. Donald Fisher
Employed as graduate assistant but made to work months at a time while awaiting paychecks sometimes not receiving any paychecks at all

A warning to any and all people considering pursuing graduate study at the University of Massachusetts with either Dr. Caren Rotello or Dr. Don Fisher as your advisor. I will provide a brief explanation for now and will provide more information at a later date if it seems necessary.

Firstly, my complaint with Dr. Caren Rotello is simply related to her violation of university policy (at my expense) and the lack of any self-regulation of her behavior by the department or the university.

When my father became terminally ill I filed the paperwork requesting a formal leave of absence so that I could take some personal time. The formal request is necessary to maintain one's status as a graduate student and also so that the time-off is not considered with regard the universities time limitations for finishing a degree.

The paperwork I needed to file required the signatures of a couple of professors and the department chair in addition to Dr. Rotello's. I easily obtained all the necessary signatures except for that of Dr. Rotello (at the time she was my advisor).

In a shockingly insensitive move, Dr. Rotello (against university policy insofar as her actions were arbitrary and, to be honest, very rude) decided that instead of allowing me to have time off to deal with personal matters that I should instead finish all work necessary for my degree within a period of two months.

When I was unable to do that, she performed the necessary actions to have me officially removed from the program.

The other professor, Dr. Fisher, is far worse. After suffering Dr. Rotello, I again applied for admission to the University (different department but related research) with Dr. Fisher as my advisor. This was the WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE.

During the time that he was my advisor and source of income I endured almost unbearable economic hardships due to his capricious and illegal violations of the employee union's contracts. Graduate students make just enough money every month to just barely survive (on a month to month basis) so being made to wait for more than one month to receive any pay for ones work begins to place one in a dire financial situation.

In one instance I was funded by a four month contract (one semester) but didn't receive my first paycheck until one week before the semester ended.

As my financial situation worsened and concerns as to whether I would be able to pay rent and/or buy food became all consuming, my work and academic performance dropped.

Amazingly enough, Dr. Fisher expressed concerns about my diminished performance, effectively giving me a negative work review even though he knew that my financial situation had become catastrophic due to his inability to pay employees. I observed to him that if I could and if it mattered I would like to give a negative work review to the person responsible for making sure I got paid - I was being slightly antagonistic since he was the one responsible but, to my complete disbelief, he acted as though he had no idea who that person might be.

Dr. Fisher managed to go even one step further by not paying me at all for two months of work (again giving me a negative review). I was not the only graduate student he "screwed" in this manner, there were several, but I am sure that my situation was the most egregious. Part of the benefit of being a Research Assistant included a tuition waiver and, the final straw so to state, was when I discovered that, due to his actions or inactions, I didn't qualify for the tuition waiver.initially I believed that this was a paperwork problem I proceeded to obtain student loans so as to cover the tuition (assuming that as soon as my waiver became active I would be able to simply repay the money). Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I the waiver was not forthcoming and I was saddled with the student loans. On top of the fiscal apocolypse I was currently engulfed in, this was the last straw and I left the university.

What could explain Dr. Fisher's actions? I don't know for sure but if you are considering working in his lab... DON'T, DO NOT DO IT, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME or degrade yourself.

From my experiences (and observing the experiences of others) I learned that The University of Massachusetts, Amherst does not care about its graduate students; violations of university policies regarding graduate students rights and/or contracts negotiated by the graduate union are ignored. The graduate student is, in many instances, viewed as an easilty manipulated source of cheap labor.

Company: University Of Massachusetts, Dr. Donald Fisher
Country: USA
State: Massachusetts
City: Amherst
Site: www.umass.edu

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