15
Can a public university block me on their official social media
account if I am a student and/or employee?
De facto: yes. De jure: we don't know (see Noah Snyder's answer and the comments), but I don't see a compelling reason against it.
I am concerned about potentially starting a legal battle with the
university
Then don't.
But I'm not sure I should ...
10
We aren't in a position to address the question of why this professor made this specific request. However, on a more general level:
You don't specify where your home country is; let's suppose it's Ruritania. Why wouldn't a professor want references from your Ruritanian colleagues?
Reference-writing culture and purpose differs around the world. In US/Canada/...
9
Yes, you should tell them and yes, it makes sense to ask them again. Likely the rejection wasn't due to the letter they wrote, but to the level of competition for positions in the program.
But, in general, your letter writers should be people who know you and your work well and can make a confident prediction of your future success. I assume that this is one ...
9
If you want legal advice you should hire a lawyer. I'm surprised to discover this, but from a cursory reading of Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump and reports on the decision, it sure looks like it would apply to public universities. If that's the case, then public universities would be quite restricted in the reasons they could use to block ...
5
As suggested by @academic in a comment, I think this is a case where you should decline to write the recommendation (and do so as quickly as possible so that they can find someone else) and suggest they ask someone with whom they've had more interaction.
I think it may end up normal for students during the pandemic to rely on recommendations from instructors ...
2
This is exactly what I would say to students wanting a LoR (only I did not write it in Korean first, but your translation is eerily close!). Even with the ones I knew well I would always ask which aspects they wanted me to emphasise. Because then I would only have to translate their informal response (to me as their friend) into officialese and hey presto.
...
2
taking the opportunity to quietly warn colleagues at other institutions about this person
There isn't such a thing as a "letter of dissuassion" or "letter of discouragement", which is what it seems you are considering writing. "Recommendation" means:
The act of telling somebody that something is good or useful or that somebody ...
2
Everyone can write a recommendation letter for you. So the answer is an absolute yes. Nevertheless, the question now becomes: how strong can a recommendation letter written by a Ph.D. student be in order to have a strong application in order to get accepted? But this is a different story.
You may want to send it in addition to the other recommendation ...
2
Assuming X has high reputation, you should ask X. If (s)he does not know your work already, (s)he can ask Y for details.
1
I would keep it private.
The perception, whether accurate or not, is that private letters are more honest. Probably no way that would get back to the target of the letter, but it might circulate among students who in turn may, accurately or not, gossip about who is the favorite. No real good comes of that.
There shouldn't be any useful feedback to a student ...
1
It is surely acceptable. There are reasons to do it, I don't think it's "wrong" in any sense. Personally, however, I'm not so keen on it, because I don't want to encourage students to discuss the contents of recommendation letters (I perceive discussions about our subject area or even general advisory and personal issues as much more constructive ...
1
Yes, you can share them, and probably should. The company is correct in promising confidentiality, but that is because the words aren't theirs, but yours. But since they are yours it is fine to share them with students.
In fact, if you have to say negative things, it is best to discuss that with the student before you write the letter so that they have a ...
1
Letters of support are ideally written by an academic or researcher you have worked with, and who can attest to your good research skills (or other skills you believe you would like to showcase in your PhD application, e.g. communicating your ideas in writting).
In the situation you describe, your summer project supervisors sound like ideal letter writers, ...
1
Letters from postdocs are definitely fine. Letters from people who have worked closely with you are definitely better than letters from people who have only met you two times or only experienced you in a lecture.
Then again, the issue with a only-just-now postdoc is that he/she has little, if any, experience in writing recommendation letters - and, in fact, ...
1
If the fourth letter will strongly support your application and is from someone who can fairly judge your work, then it would be better to send it than not. But a lukewarm letter won't help you and might dilute stronger letters. You have to judge that.
The letter readers will be looking to make a prediction of success for accepted candidates.
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