My next few posts will be "outtakes" from earlier drafts of my September 16, 2018 piece. See especially my commentary under the following outtake.
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There are things I should learn to do better. One is to choose my battles, or at least figure out sooner when the battle is lost. If you look up the management chain and see no one who can be counted on to do the right thing, then your only options might be the unpalatable ones of getting a lawyer, going to the media, or getting out. When the stress of unfair treatment makes you ill, it's probably time to get out. Your health is your highest priority.
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The above was intended as advice for students. But I've told a variant of this advice to administrators (who would rather that I hadn't), and it's especially important for them. To administrators and managers (in all professions), the message is:
People need to know where to go to get problems fixed. If the problem is more likely to be solved by going to a lawyer or the media than by any option you offer, then some people will do so. If you don't want that, you need to provide better options, that can be trusted to make things better rather than worse.