Is bullying and harassment rife at Irish
universities? These institutions are spending millions of euro on legal
fees to deal with allegations by staff of bullying, harassment and
discrimination, particularly on gender grounds.
A series of high-profile legal cases in recent years
has highlighted tension bubbling up across a number of campuses – and
many more are in the pipeline.
All of this comes at a time when the seven
university presidents are urging greater state investment and the
introduction of an income-contingent student-loan scheme.
So what’s going on behind the walls of our higher
education institutions? Records released under the Freedom of
Information Act show that dozens of lecturers and other staff members
have made complaints about bullying, harassment and discrimination
across Ireland’s seven universities in recent years.
There is a heavy financial toll. Ireland’s
universities paid out more than €3.3 million in legal fees involving
staff between 2010 and 2015, a threefold increase in the space of five
years.
A significant amount of this money was spent on
allegations of bullying, harassment and discrimination, particularly on
gender grounds. Colleges often hire external investigators to deal with
such complaints.
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland,
which represents lecturers at institutes of technology, conducted a
survey of more than 1,100 members in recent times to help measure scale
of the problem. The results surprised some seasoned union officials:
almost 30 per cent of respondents said they are always, often or
sometimes bullied at work.
A further 69 per cent said there is always, often or sometimes friction between colleagues at work.
Managers lacking training
Joan Donegan, of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, says it is dealing with fresh allegations of bullying and harassment every month of the year.“If management are not trained on how to deal with bullying and harassment cases, they can – without realising it – cause more harm. In-house training for HR and support staff is essential and more cost- effective,” she says. “Investment in a qualified external mediator, although expensive, is worthwhile if staff are not trained. Spending money on consultants to conduct investigations is very expensive, and the outcome from such processes is rarely helpful in healing the hurt between the parties.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/fear-and-loathing-on-campus-bullying-at-irish-universities-1.2817956
