Academic communities are the classic example of why you need insurance. Whether it is the whims and eccentrities of the rogue professor, the odds and obstacles of surviving a rigorous and competitive process of training, or the hidden prejudices against your research interest or theoretical orientation, Psychology Corruption & Adverse Event Insurance would protect you from the "perfect storms" that are all-too common in staking a future in Psychology. "Speaking of perfect storms, students can feel pressure at both ends. On the one hand, they have to work within a rather stingy framework of expectations that homogenizes and bureaucratizes training and research. Many students often do not fit within these systems. On the other hand, you do encounter professors with their own visions for the field or their own interpretation of shared expectations, and students also have to adjust to these requirements. In addition to working hard to avoid clashing personally with either of these requirements, some students have the additional burden of managing conflicting expectations."

Though a flight of fancy now, J. Wyatt Ehrenfels hopes existing insurance companies will evaluate the market for Psychology Corruption & Adverse Event Insurance. "If they examined the need," remarks Ehrenfels, "I believe they would find a market for this." Lets take a look at some of the basis: What should you do if your career was damaged or your standing in the program threatened? First, you would contact your insurance agent with a timeline of adverse events.

Insurance policy holders would be required to document losses as well as all words exchanged with faculty in meetings relevant to the case. Retain all memos and notes so they could be reviewed by an adjuster. This would speed up your claim.

Ehrenfels believes academics are often not stingy when it comes to giving students ammunition for a lawsuit. "They are rather brazen with their authority and perceived freedom to harm. They are also famously reluctant to use the phrase 'I don't know,' and often make statements that are incriminating to themselves or to another faculty member. They think they are immune from accountability."

If your competitiveness had been adversely affected but you can still work toward a career, the insurance company would recommend you offer conciliatory gestures and seek affiliations and activities that could reinstate or restore your capacity to add critical credentials to your CV. "And document any resistance you encounter during your adjustment phase so that your insurance company can reimburse you."

And if the damage is so extensive and it is no longer viable to accrue loans or waste resources in pursuit of doctorate, most of the insurance policies would pay for relocation to another program or career, including application fees, transcript acquistion fees, postage, photocopy, phone, and facsimile expenses. If the insurance company examines the sequalae, it may reimburse you to file suit against a faculty, staff, university, or other training or service-delivery entity, and you would work closely with the agent on a legal referral and may be entitled for compensation through mediation and deposition (e.g., retainer, witnesses).

If you were lucky this time and your end-of-semester evaluation meeting resulted only in probation, take this as a wakeup call. Ehrenfels believes that often the pressures of professional training (essentially a process of socialization), politics, and personal prejudices are too great for even some 4.0 students if they have the wrong personalities or vocational interests and ideas. "Take stock of your insurance policy and do the inventory you have been promising yourself you will do. Make a case for the incompatibility, and if that incompatibility is not the fault of the student, or if the incompatibility is artificial (i.e., exists as a perception and spread among the faculty through groupthink), you would be entitled to compensation and legal consultation."

Ehrenfels has speculated that perhaps the only reason we have not yet seen this type of insurance available is because it would not be financially sustainable. "There could be too many claims to settle. The policies may ultimately be too expensive for students. I also worry insurance companies would discriminate against certain students because they understand programs discriminate against these same students, for example, by declaring an interest in dream research, or problems with a prior program, a preexisting condition. They could be denied coverage or asked to pay exorbitant premiums.