Bagel and Schmear? Not Here

By Colleen Flaherty. As it turns out, many Ph.D. students resent the expectation that they bring food and drinks to their thesis defenses. UCLA's psychology department just said they shouldn't do it.
It’s a common tradition within graduate programs: students bring food and drinks to meetings with their thesis committees, especially to their final defenses. And for many years, the psychology department at the University of California, Los Angeles, was no exception.
No more. The department’s faculty Executive Committee recently voted to end the unofficial practice, citing the added stress -- financial and otherwise -- it puts on students. More...