PhD completion hanging in balance
I don't understand the problem: if you don't want to finish, just quit immediately. Then they can't "expel" you. Why delay, anyway, if you really don't want to complete the degree anyway? And what kind of reactions from faculty do you expect if you're not doing the work, and give other visible evidence that you don't want to and don't intend to complete the program? It's one thing to not want to complete, but hard to understand why you'd hang around if that's the case. As it is, you've had plenty of time to resign/quit, so why haven't you? There's no obstacle in your path here, unless you really want to remain in this "limbo" longer, for some reason.