Cambridge University accused of bullying ‘cover-up’ as internal survey revealed

 Only a quarter of staff at Cambridge University are satisfied with how their department tackles bullying and harassment, according to an internal survey seen by the Observer.

Cambridge undertook its staff culture survey in January 2024 and is now facing accusations from academics that it tried to cover up the “grim” results, which have been released through freedom of information (FoI) requests.

A spokesperson for the university said this weekend that it was supporting departments to take action where issues had been identified. They said: “We take concerns about bullying seriously and strongly encourage anyone who experiences such behaviour to report it.”

Just 27% of staff agreed that they were happy with attempts to address bullying and harassment – with some of the most high-profile science departments scoring especially badly – and only half of staff (52%) said their department supported their mental health and wellbeing.

The results have prompted an academic at the university, astrophysicist Prof Wyn Evans, to break with tradition and seek nominations in the forthcoming election of Cambridge’s new chancellor on an anti-bullying manifesto, after Labour peer David Sainsbury announced his resignation from the post last year...

A survey by the university and the three main campus unions in 2020 found that nearly a third of staff had experienced bullying or harassment at work in the previous 18 months. Then vice-chancellor Stephen Toope wrote a statement to accompany the survey results, pledging action and stating: “To be a leading institution, we must accept this type of behaviour has no place at Cambridge.”

The university is far from alone in facing challenges of this kind. In 2020, a survey by the Wellcome Trust, one of the largest charitable funders of research in the UK, questioned more than 4,000 researchers across 20 universities, and found that nearly two-thirds of them had witnessed bullying and harassment, and 43% had experienced it themselves.

More than three-quarters of them felt that intense competition to win research grants and publish in high-profile journals – with research departments also competing to perform well in league tables and respond to government initiatives – had created “unkind and aggressive” conditions...

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/12/cambridge-university-accused-of-bullying-cover-up-as-internal-survey-revealed

The Peter and Dilbert Principles applied to academe

…individuals can be placed in managerial positions for which they are not competent. Thus, Peter (1969) and Peter and Hull (2011) refer to the Peter Principle, which asserts that within a firm's hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence, which may be an outcome of this process… 

A restatement of this principle asserts that company employees are ultimately promoted out of jobs for which they are capable of doing more or less what is expected of them, a hierarchical position referred to in Peter and Hull (2011) as the “level of competence,” and into positions which are situated in the company hierarchy at what is referred to in Peter and Hull (2011) as the “level of incompetence,” where they are incapable of doing what is expected of them. 

Another possible outcome of the promotion system… occurs when a company’s “most ineffective” workers are promoted to management, an outcome that Adams (1996) refers to as the Dilbert Principle. Put differently, the Dilbert Principle asserts that a company’s least effective employees are ultimately promoted directly to (middle) management without ever passing through what Peter and Hull (2011) describe as the temporary competence stages of the company hierarchy…

...university administrators sometimes engage in a variety of other productivity-stifling behaviors. For example, Faria et al. (2012) provide an economic analysis of “downward mobbing” in academe, describing a university administration’s bullying of productive faculty. This type of productivity-stifling activity may be motivated by professional jealousy, budget concerns, or retaliation for whistle-blowing activity on the part of the faculty, among others… 

These types of systems and their consequences explain why, as Cardoso et al. (2016) point out, academics tend to blame a lack of quality in higher education on the design and functioning of institutional governance and management systems… 

 …more than one-third of all appointments to the highest administrative position in U.S. business colleges and schools—that of dean—come from internal promotions. Given that the professoriate is made up mainly of risk-averse actors, using internal promotion as an incentive system may promote more faculty than is efficient, an example of the Peter Principle. Such a result may also be consistent with productivity-stifling governance systems in academe that lead to misaligned incentive structures and workplace mobbing. Additionally, we find evidence that the tenure of a typical “outside” dean exceeds that of a typical “inside” dean, suggesting that the Dilbert Principle is also an essential feature of management in higher education…

Faria, J. R., & Mixon Jr, F. G. (2020). The Peter and Dilbert Principles applied to academe. Economics of Governance, 21(2), 115-132.

Universities with the highest number of non-disclosure agreements

The universities with the highest number of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) issued between 2014 and 2019 include:

• London Metropolitan University: 473 NDAs.

• University of Central Lancashire: 431 NDAs.

• London South Bank University: 413 NDAs.

• University of Sheffield: 335 NDAs.

• University of Oxford: 256 NDAs.

• Cardiff University: 220 NDAs

These figures highlight universities' extensive use of NDAs, particularly in staff disputes or grievances.

Some universities refuse to provide data on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) due to concerns over confidentiality, legal implications, and institutional reputation. NDAs are often used to protect sensitive information, and disclosing details about their use could violate the terms of these agreements or expose the university to legal risks. 

Additionally, universities may fear that releasing such data could lead to negative publicity or scrutiny, especially if NDAs are perceived as being used to cover up misconduct or suppress complaints. This reluctance is further compounded by the lack of a standardised reporting framework, making it challenging for institutions to share this information transparently.

Source: Perplexity.AI

The cost of non-disclosure agreements in Higher Education

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in higher education have significant financial and reputational costs. Between 2014 and 2019, UK universities issued nearly 11,000 NDAs, with 2,600 signed in 2017-18 alone. These agreements are often used to silence misconduct allegations, such as bullying or harassment, raising concerns about their impact on transparency and accountability.

NDAs can be costly. Some agreements cost as much as £500,000, and institutions like the NHS have spent millions on similar confidentiality clauses. Additionally, negotiating NDAs can lead to costly settlements, with colleges potentially paying between £20,000 and £200,000 in cases involving discrimination claims.

The reputational costs are also significant. NDAs can prevent institutions from addressing systemic issues, as they limit public disclosure of misconduct. This can hinder efforts to improve policies and practices, ultimately affecting the quality of education and the well-being of staff and students.

Recent legislative changes, such as the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, aim to curb the misuse of NDAs by banning their use in cases of sexual misconduct or harassment. These reforms seek to protect victims and promote transparency, though their long-term impact remains to be seen.

Source: Perplexity.AI

Workplace bullying and harassment in higher education institutions: A scoping review

...Competition, once one element of academic life, now interlaces with every aspect of the work environment as staff compete for funding, titles, recognition, resources, and citations... in the pursuit of the chimera of ‘excellence’. This ignores the fact that, as excellence is relative, most will not attain it, and being gendered, many will find it harder, even impossible, to prevail... Metrification and performativity are seen to have changed the academic labour process. Staff are now heavily dependent on the evaluation of their peers for promotion or academic management roles...which have proliferated in the service of managerialism. 

Such evaluations, claiming meritocratic processes, employ performance criteria that involve ‘subjective, often ambiguous, criteria, as evident in reviews of scholarly/intellectual contributions, department- and college-wide service, continuing growth, and community service. Few institutions have clear standards for judging such contributions and, instead, rely on general guidelines or descriptive criteria... Such judgments often lead to perceptions of distributive injustice, unfair treatment associated with outcomes and procedural injustice, and unfair treatment associated with the decision-making’ 

...The articulation and acceptance of the robust critique of ideas is acknowledged as an essential aspect of academic life, but one where the managerial, monetised environment driven by neoliberal values has raised the stakes considerably for ‘winners’ in the game of metrics and prestige indicators. This was seen to contribute to an increasingly harsh and punitive climate, where person-related belittlement and professional undermining are commonplace... incivility is tacitly accepted, assessment can be weaponised, fear can be employed in a way that can easily segue into bullying, and where ‘demonstrations of power are seen as reasonable and warranted if an individual is to succeed’... 

Indeed, a push against anti-incivility policies was identified in the interests of open criticism and the name of academic freedom... In this view, the critique of staff in the service of excellence and performativity should be permitted, even if uncivil. They observe a deliberate fuzzing of the boundaries between the vigorous criticism of output, intellectual work, or theoretical propositions, and abrasive behaviour, mockery, and humiliation...

Hodgins, M., Kane, R., Itzkovich, Y., & Fahie, D. (2024). Workplace bullying and harassment in higher education institutions: A scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(9), 1173.

Narcissist leaders in higher education

Narcissistic leaders in higher education can significantly impact institutions, often leading to adverse outcomes. Here are some key points regarding narcissistic leaders in this sector:

Characteristics of Narcissistic Leaders

• Grandiosity and Arrogance: Narcissistic leaders often exhibit grandiosity, arrogance, and a sense of entitlement, leading to poor decision-making and an inability to listen to others.

• Lack of Empathy: They typically lack empathy, which can result in exploitative behavior and a lack of concern for the well-being of employees or students.

• Charisma and Confidence: Despite their negative traits, narcissistic leaders may initially be perceived as charismatic and confident, which can help them ascend to leadership positions.

Impact on Institutions

• Performance Decline: Studies have shown that narcissistic leaders can lead to declines in key performance measures, such as student satisfaction and research excellence.

• Defensive Silence: Narcissistic leaders can foster a culture of defensive silence among employees, where individuals are reluctant to express ideas or concerns due to fear of retribution or lack of recognition.

• Empire Building and Risk-Taking: Narcissistic leaders often engage in excessive financial risk-taking and empire-building strategies, which can destabilise institutions financially and strategically.

Challenges and Solutions

• Identification and Hiring Practices: It is suggested that hiring processes should include psychometric tests to identify narcissistic tendencies in candidates.

• Value Congruence: The alignment of values between leaders and followers can moderate the adverse effects of narcissism, but high congruence can also exacerbate defensive silence.

• Hypercompetition: The competitive environment in higher education may incentivise narcissistic behavior as a means of self-promotion and survival.

Overall, narcissistic leaders in higher education can pose significant challenges to institutional performance and employee morale, highlighting the need for careful leadership selection and management practices.

Source: Perplexity.ai

Breaking the silence around academic harassment

 

...The common narrative is that the harasser is advancing science, mentoring future scientists and is simply too good to lose. Ultimately, in the eyes of the institution, the financial interests obtained through the harassers outweigh the harm endured by their targets. This virtually always results in the academic institutions stakeholders defending the bully and not addressing the rights of their targets. The unwillingness of the involved stakeholders to address academic harassment results in the lack of successful, fair and effective responses of the scientific community (and specifically institutions) to academic harassment: many recent reports suggest that sweeping the incidences of academic harassment under the carpet has been the common practice of many institutions to protect their interests...

...The harassment (and specifically bullying) process in various settings (including industry and academia) is generally divided into two major phases... the subjugation and control phase, where the target is subjected to continuous and relentless attack on their personality via many methods (e.g. constant criticism, exclusion, aggressive and disrespectful communications, surveillance at work and beyond the workplace, lower performance markings and other systematic negative social acts), and (ii) the destruction phase where the orchestration of the demise of the individual takes place. In the destruction phase, unsubstantiated, vague complaints are being fabricated with the intention of attacking the integrity of the researcher/employee and to bully them out of the job via disciplinary sanctions, suspension and dismissal...

...Available guidelines and reporting systems for sexual harassment and bullying are largely ineffective mainly due to a pervasive gap between policy and practice... which contributes to institutions protecting the perpetrators, while silencing and retaliating against reporters. As a consequence, high-profile academic harassers thrive in our science backyards as a rule rather than an exception, accompanied by the inevitable institutional betrayal... and (re)-traumatization of those who report bullying... Ultimately, effective institutional change is prevented and, hence, harassment is enabled and facilitated by different stakeholders through the reluctant acquiescence of silenced targets. This leads to a fear culture among bystanders...

...External legal aid is rarely feasible for targets. Universities have the funds that targets do not have to pay for lawyers to defend them, and perpetrators are supported by public resources... Circulating adverse publicity through the use of organized public relations departments is a process wide open to most hospitals and/or universities... Targets, by contrast, are often forced to comply with the code of silence through non-disclosure agreements...

From: https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1873-3468.14473

Bully University? The Cost of Workplace Bullying and Employee Disengagement in American Higher Education

 

Throughout the organizational strata of higher education, leadership was a common thread either as the actor or the enabler of bullying behavior on campus. When leadership allowed bullying to flourish, employees disengaged from the work tasks, spending hours regrouping from hostile interaction. 

A target looked to leadership for relief after facing a bully. Human resources followed leadership in response to a bully. Furthermore, the bully was often from the ranks of leadership with extensive organizational or expert power. Findings confirmed that leadership can set the tone in cultivating an environment that sustains or eradicates bullying behavior.

With budget cuts and challenges, higher education cannot afford to lose valuable productivity to staff turnover and employee disengagement. Theoretically speaking, turnover related to workplace bullying reflected the number of staff who may be distracted and disengaged while serving staff and students. Leadership can galvanize an organization, or lead it simply to mediocrity and stagnation.

To rise above mediocrity, transformation and innovation are critical elements for any organization, but neither can exist without a trustworthy leader with integrity. “Integrity is a fundamental consistency between one’s values, goals, and actions. At the simplest level, it means standing for something, having a significant commitment, and exemplifying this commitment in your behavior”…

The findings of this and previous studies reported that targets of workplace bullying and witnesses of bullying were motivated to seek relief from the aggression they experienced; in the absence of a supportive leader, employees withdrew and remained distracted. Consistent with other studies, this study corroborated previous findings that workplace bullying often comes from leadership and that human resources seldom advocated for the target, leaving the target toiling in isolation, disengaging from organizational objectives, or leaving the organization…

Consequently, targets and witnesses of workplace bullying disengaged from the job. They withheld their creativity and retreated from the established hostile environment…

Hollis, L. P. (2015). Bully university? The cost of workplace bullying and employee disengagement in American higher education. Sage Open, 5(2), 2158244015589997.