I am going to be a 5th-year PhD student in the fall and am studying at a university in the US. My PI has been an assistant professor since 2020. My PI will renew the contract in 2027 for the promotion to associate professor. My PI was very nice initially, but this changed after that. She started to show a strong preference for one student (it is also weird that the student was kicked out after a year; rumors were saying they were dating). Later, she started to postpone all the meetings, and these meetings never happened. It is so difficult to get feedback from my PI, and we can only meet almost once every month. Sometimes my PI just did not show up to the meeting. And the excuse was weird, such as my PI’s phone was not working, or the dog did not eat the food. Most of the time, my PI just said there was an emergency. Things have been like this for two years. I am entering my final year, and I only have one preprint paper. I finished three manuscripts, but my PI did not give any comments. I believe my PI did not read them. My PI did not apply for grants. My PI even tried to extend my PhD since no one wants to join our lab. Right now, I hate my PI so badly, and I just want to graduate. I do not even know if I can publish or get a postdoc position. I am considering writing a bad reference letter for the promotion. Would the department or school care about my letter?
Comments
This is a complaint letter. You cannot write a recommendation letter (positive or negative) unless you have been asked to do so.
I’ve written recommendation letters as part of tenure packages for a couple of my previous PIs. I believe they do have some impact, but you have to be asked to write one, and both times the letters were not confidential. They could request to see the letters if they wanted to. I’m not sure if it’s common for the letters to not be confidential, but my experiences were from 2 different institutions (state universities in the same state).
What do you stand to gain from doing this? What could you conceivably lose? These are questions that may be worth asking before you do something that could be a career ender (for you, if not her).
If solicited, the department will take your letter into consideration but it is unlikely to be the primary deciding factor in the tenure decision. So either your toxic letter contributes to her not getting tenure (which sounds likely anyway if she’s not bringing in grants or graduating students) and you make an enemy for life and are a convenient scapegoat for the department’s decision. (You should assume that the tenor of your letter is revealed to her at some point.) Good luck getting a job in the field afterward. Or she does get tenure, she is a fixture in your academic community for life, and you still have an enemy for life. Again, good luck getting a job in the field afterward.
Either way, you gain nothing and stand to lose quite a lot. Is it worth it? Probably not.
My advice to students is always that if you don’t get along with your advisor, graduate as soon as possible and move on with your life. The best revenge is success.
If your PI has not submitted grants, has not graduated students, has not published papers, their promotion committee will already know that. They don’t need your gossip.
If you are asked to write a letter, be firm but fair. Be as specific and as dispassionate as possible.