Section: Why I Left Academia
Two months before I defended my dissertation, I discovered that a professor had published my own work before me. This is the story that sparked the attention of academics across the world in 2017 with half a million views, talk about good trouble. It's why I left academia, and what I discovered when Post-PhD the Blog went viral: that I'm far from alone.
This is Post-PhD’s origin story, as it were, and my personal account of what happens to whistle-blowers after the fact. From being served a defamation lawsuit to a phyrric victory by filing for bankruptcy to those who stood by me. (More than a few of you have told me some of these should come with academic trauma trigger warnings, so consider yourself warned :P ).
Below are posts from 2017 to 2019, in order of the most recent:
In this post: I talk about what I've learned about how to exist as an educator and how to extend that beyond the context of academia.
In this post: I talk about the consequences of my academic relapse and how academia shapes us.
In this post: I talk about professor salaries and the declining availability of tenue positions within the university in relation to money allocation.
In this post: I talk about my role as a polarizing figure in academia, and the story of the day I decided not to remove my posts.
In this post: A retelling of my day in court and what I learned.
In this post: I talk about the emotional toll all of this has had on my mentality and life in general, and how despite all of that I'd do it all over again.
In this post: I talk about the immense value to be found in the pursuit of knowledge and the importance of the project of academia.
In this post: I talk about being served with a lawsuit by my former advisor, alleging conspiracy and defamation in response to my Why I Left Academia blog posts.
In this post: I talk about my former department's response to my blog and what it has shown me about the toxicity of academic culture.
In this post: Part three of Why I Left Academia. About what happens in the aftermath of intellectual trauma.
In this post: Part two of Why I Left Academia. About my attempts to follow procedure and how institutional procedure protects aggressors instead of students.
In this post: I talk about the moment I knew I was done with academia and the events before defending my dissertation.
In this post: The real story of what happened after I left academia, on the loss of my academic career and feeling adrift.