[pmiller2]

Not to mention that universities typically don't hire people at the associate professor level. The first rank is called "assistant professor," followed by "associate professor," and then "full professor." Associate and full are tenured ranks, which is why there isn't much hiring at that level.

Also, one would expect any open position at a US university to be advertised, most likely in The Chronicle of Higher Education. This is something perhaps only someone who's got a little familiarity with the academic job market may know, so, I suppose one could be forgiven for not knowing it, but I would assume that one would at least google for open positions at Harvard to find out if it really exists.

That said, naïve or not, I also don't think victim blaming is a productive thing to do here. All it does is discourage people from speaking out about their experiences, which means we can't learn from them. It may also discourage people from seeking help when they think they might be getting phished.

[dissidents]

As others have pointed out on Twitter, I am not sure who is the victim here; Nidhi Razdan apparently had multiple speaking engagements where she was introduced as Harvard faculty:

Example: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErxnAc5XEAEkro3?format=jpg&name=...

[pmiller2]

I don’t understand. Are you saying people are claiming she made the whole thing up and was just going around saying she was an associate professor at Harvard?

[alisonkisk]

Yes. That's what the Twitter thread shows.

[asenna]

To be honest, NDTV is one of the top English channels in India and Nidhi Razdan is a very well respected and recognized journalist.

It makes no sense for her to fake all of this for some "clout" as some on twitter suggested - she does not need it. Unfortunately there is a lot of cynicism for anything media (and in turn politics) related in India and people love to speculate.

[CyberRabbi]

What you are suggesting here makes this already interesting story even more interesting. Perhaps there are holes in her story but if she really knowingly faked the whole thing, why would she resign from her job?

[ghaff]

Because she was maybe resigned?

It's possible there's an innocent explanation but Occam's Razor does suggest she just made up her Associate Professor at Harvard title and, when called out for it, concocted a story about it really being Harvard Extension School and phishing. Which was vaguely plausible so long as you don't think too deeply about it and ignore that, if this were the case, the initial Twitter post was deceptive.

[CyberRabbi]

By “resigned” I am assuming you mean she was fired. If she were fired why would her previous employer allow her to use their website to publish this story?

[ghaff]

Who knows? Maybe the Occam's Razor conclusion isn't in fact the right one. Maybe the publication thinks it saves them face as well as her. (Journalists who lie look bad for news publications even if they're fired.)

[alasdair_]

She turned everything over to the police who will presumably investigate. Why do this if she is lying?

[meowster]

Devil's advocate: she claims she turned it over to the police.

[LordAtlas]

This thread says people from industry are sometimes hired without needing Ph.Ds - https://twitter.com/gauravsabnis/status/1350414118986121216

[pmiller2]

Ok? I never said anything about PhDs. What I said was that people typically aren't hired in at the associate level. Those that are would typically be professors who have tenure at another institution, meaning that they're already at the associate level or higher. People who are denied tenure at their current institution and want to continue in academia would apply to an assistant professor job and negotiate a shortened tenure clock, meaning that they would be assessed for tenure in fewer than the standard 6 years that a brand new, never held a professorship of any type assistant professor would have.

Again, this is a lot of esoterica about the academic job market that not many people outside of those circles is going to know, so I don't blame anyone for not knowing it.

[LordAtlas]

Apologies. Meant to reply to someone else who claimed Ph.Ds were a requirement.