Since you are not an employee, you are rarely protected by laws or investigations units set up by unions or governmental agencies. Or, it can easily be contested that a violation happened in your capacity as a student, not as an employee, if you do happen to be an employee.

The practical upshot is that if you are treated poorly, you only have recourse by appealing to the willing members of the institution for help, unless the violation is egregious enough to warrant governmental interference. Further, the norm within the institution is that your supervisor has a kind of total control of you, often in legalistic terms, i.e., supervisory powers are outlined in policy and may be considered conditions of their employment.