[ISL]

There is an option C): Switch advisors.

As long as the department is sympathetic to the student's complaint, it will accommodate the switch if it can.

Furthermore, there is increasing attention to providing "Faculty Mentors" -- people of faculty rank who are emphatically not the student's advisor, tasked in that capacity with advocating for the student's needs alone. Look within the University for other outlets for your concern.

You're going to be working very closely with your advisor and relying on them for guidance and networking after graduation. If the relationship is toxic and the only options are A or B, think real hard about the upside of B before selecting A.

[loeg]

Or D), blow the whistle and get out of academia.

[desi_ninja]

as international students, there are far more limitations, paperwork and deadlines than just switching advisors. also, the problem of heading. angry one professor , and their clique will be angry at you

[idoeestuff]

what dept are you in where faculty wouldn't support each other? surely the powerful faculty usually are the ones with the grants coming in, sometimes funding the other faculty (at least the dept/university).