Commentary on Dissertations

There is an aura about sessions such as this which suggests analogies to a fraternity initiation. Given that, one of the first questions the discussant must ask himself is where his discussion stands in relation to "Hell Week." All of us, I believe, would agree that "Hell Week" is the responsibility of the pledge trainer, or dissertation adviser in this case. If "Hell Week" is over, is the discussant reduced to saying something like "welcome to the fraternity"? Certainly that is one function of this session, but then does critical discussion become criticism of the student or his adviser? It has been customary to enter a caveat at the outset of these sessions that the present discussion should be construed as "professional criticism," that is, the intellectual umbilical cord between adviser and student has been severed.