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    I felt like I should add a comment, more on the psychological side. Right now you need to finally feel safe and calm in your academic environment. Once your new program starts and a couple of weeks pass, everything from the past will look a lot less serious and more manageable. So please don't feel that you have to make any rash decisions right now (I mean, you don't).
    – Helen
    Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 6:40
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    "Being a horrible person is not a disadvantage"-- it appears that it may even be an advantage in some cases. For the record, I just want to note that I never said she's a horrible/bad/evil person. I think perfectly average people can treat others really badly, it doesn't make them 'horrible,' per se. But I agree about the 'not a disadvantage' comment, it seems that being aggressive and even hostile can actually be an advantage in some cases in academia.
    – adspeed
    Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 13:06
  • [1/2] As to why she threatened me... I think she thought she could control me as her GA (grad assistant) and student, and that didn't work out. By that I mean, she thought I would not question anything she asked of me or told me to do. For example, the first day of my GA position, she asked me to "write up and sign" an NDA that stated, among other things, that I wouldn't repeat comments she made to me about other faculty, staff, or students. She claimed this was commonplace and I could find examples online. In fact, it's not typical. The only NDA-type documents GAs typically sign are...
    – adspeed
    Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 13:10
  • [2/2] ...FOIA agreements to protect students, not NDAs to protect faculty talking about other faculty/staff/students. When I pressed her on this, she actually used the word "gossip." I checked with my department head, who said it was not necessary to sign any kind of NDA for this professor. I refused to write/sign anything for her without approval of the dept. head. She got extremely angry and walked away from me. This was after she'd already threatened to fire, so I was afraid, but moreso because I thought she might give me a bad grade in her class that term. So this is one example.
    – adspeed
    Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 13:14
  • :0 It seems indeed like you became her hobby... which is good since you didn't do anything objectionable yourself (and students standing up to academic abuse of power are exemplary, even more so if starting on their first day). Also it does sound like other staff acknowledge the situation (and "actively try to avoid her"). I would sincerely repeat the suggestions in my third and fourth point and comment.
    – Helen
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 8:47