Hi Eliana,

Thanks for the advice. I have graduated from school. I doubt I’ll ever see him in my rest of my life.

Speaking of the code of conduct, I just remembered he once came to me about a student. He had agreed to write a recommendation letter for the student. However, he changed his mind. He ended up writing a nasty letter about the student. He asked me if the committee would pay attention to negative letters. I told him to talk with the student and perhaps say no if he couldn’t recommend the student. The professor told me he didn’t think the student deserved the chance to be considered and that life should teach him a lesson and he might be the one giving him the lesson. He said he had met his family as well and criticized the family and the student. I said that was about the student’s future and I didn’t have the right to comment on this situation. Then he sent that letter to my email (with the student’s name hidden). I read the letter and felt nobody deserved to be commented like that in a recommendation letter. I told him the letter sounded very harsh to me and he should rethink about sending it. He said he had made up his mind. (Why did he come to me if he Had made up his mind???)

Now every time I think of this, I feel very sorry for the student. The professor obviously had anger toward the student. And he directly used his “power” to ruin (in some extent) the student’s future. On the other hand, I don’t think he’s allowed to share that letter with me in the first place, even with the student’s name hidden.