Auckland University of Technology has a widespread bullying within its staff, and the university botched its investigation into complaints of of sexual harassment last year, according to a review that spoke to hundreds of staff and students.
In a report commissioned by AUT into sexual harassment and bullying at the university , which was publicly released today, Kate Davenport QC said AUT “has a culture of not resolving issues”.
In total, the report found evidence of sexual harassment by eight former AUT staff.
It found sexual harassment complaints about former staff Max Abbott and Nigel Hemmington, first reported by Stuff , were “limited and failed to take into account previous issues of troublesome behaviour”.
“This led to AUT declining to investigate previous conduct … and to investigate a staff member’s complaint for [Hemmington],” Davenport said.
“I find that AUT’s dispute/complaints process to resolve harassment and sexual harassment is inadequate,” she added.
“AUT needs to ensure better record-keeping of staff complaints to ensure that in the future inappropriate conduct can be recorded.”
Davenport said while there were reports of historical sexual harassment, there was no evidence of it currently happening at AUT as those accused of the harassment had left the university.
But, bullying was rife, and the report heard from 273 people who said they had been bullied or had seen it happened.
“AUT does have an ongoing issue with bullying within its staff which should be addressed. I found minimal evidence of bullying of students,” Davenport said.
She said AUT did not always follow up complaints of bullying from staff. Its existing policies on harassment were “adequate” but “lack detail” and “need to be more accessible”.
Many who spoke to Davenport said they were too scared to complain, and the university didn't do anything about people who were known to be bullies.
“AUT’s real issue is not with the policies and procedures but the application of the policies and the efficacy of the complaints resolution process and the behaviour of some staff,” she said.
Davenport said staff surveys and reports dating back at least four years had shown there had been a long issue with bullying.
“AUT it took action to address these issues but I did not see significant outward evidence of this response and the staff we saw appeared unaware of these measures.”
But, she said most people who spoke to her “expressed a high degree of satisfaction with large elements of their work at AUT”.
Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack today apologised to those affected.
“In response to these findings, on behalf of the university and personally, I want to apologise to all those past and present who have been subjected to bullying or other forms of harassment.
“As a university, we should have done better and my commitment as Vice-Chancellor is that we will do better starting today,” he said.
The university began its review last year, appointing Davenport in July , after a Stuff investigation into allegations of sexual stalking and harassment by a senior academic towards an Australian National University researcher.
Claims were also made against a second senior AUT academic , who allegedly talked about his intimate life with colleagues in an inappropriate way.
The report spoke to or received submissions from 403 staff, students, professionals and former students.
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