Who should I talk to to request removing wrong information about me from website of my former PhD adviser?

Question

I was a PhD candidate from September 2016 until May 2021 in an university in the US. After that I dropped my PhD studies and switched to master's degree and graduated this August. Now, it's a couple of months that I started my work in a company and work outside of academia.

You can find the long history of fights and conflicts between me and my former adviser in my previous posts.

Today, I became aware that still my former adviser has some information in his website about me. There are a couple of problems with this information:

1. My former adviser put he/him as my preferred pronoun. Well, I never used any preferred pronoun and we never talked about it. I don't want to use it. I have my own personal preference and I don't want it besides my name.
2. He put my degree as master's non-thesis. OK, I got a master's degree and yes it is non-thesis but I think it's not his business to showcase it. After I left his group, I passed a couple of courses and wrote a literature summary that was reviewed by another professor and I got my degree. In official diploma, it only says master's degree, so I'm not sure why he put it that way when he was not the professor that reviewed my literature summary and gave me a pass grade to receive my diploma. Long story short, I think it's not his business.
3. He incorrectly claims that the topic of my literature summary was something else in that piece of information while it had nothing to do with the topic that I worked during the time that I was a PhD candidate. In another word, it's simply wrong. My former adviser put the title of my literature summary as X while it is clearly Y and has nothing to do with him.

Overall, it makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, I would move to west coast just within a month from east coast and I have a full time job, so I don't have much free time to waste talking with my former adviser. I want to report it somewhere in the university and get it removed as soon as possible with no interaction or argument with my former adviser. Any idea or suggestion is much appreciated.

Answer 1

There are a couple of possibilities, though the first is more likely.

Some universities let faculty maintain their own web pages. In this case you have to contact the professor and ask for a change.

Some universities have a staff person maintain pages, possibly with input from the faculty member. In this case, you can contact them with a request.

But, I'd suggest that you just say you are uncomfortable with what the page says about you. But also supply what you would like it to say. Ideally, say this in detail making it easy to make a change. Use wording that is consistent with the rest of the page/site, for example.

But, don't complain about what you don't want to see, suggest what you do want said about you.

It is, as I said above, the most likely case that the professor has either direct control or a lot of influence over the site. If you don't get a reasonable response, you could then make a complaint to the superior of whoever is responsible.

And, even in the best case, expect the change to take a while.

Answer 2

Depending on the country you would have different legal options and rights. If you're really bothered about this then perhaps look into that.

In general, however, start with a simple email to the individual politely requesting changes and see how that goes. Go up the chain of authority if you are dissatisfied.

Your second issue is rather contentious and I don't recommend pursuing it - you are IMO incorrect in arguing that it's "not his business" as he was your advisor. Your successes or failures do at least in some small way reflect on them.

Whatever you do, be polite - this may seem black and white to you, but other people involved may see it differently.