Staff face dismissal for criticising their employers in chatrooms and blogs, report Phil Baty and Tony Tysome. [Times Higher Education, 18 May 2007]
Academics' internet activity is increasingly being "spied on" by managers, it was claimed this week after a lecturer at Wolverhampton University was sacked for making a series of allegations online.
Union leaders and academic freedom campaigners argued this week that lecturers and researchers must be free to criticise their managers and to discuss their jobs without fear of reprisal. But university marketing chiefs warned that online activities such as blogs and web forums are increasingly being monitored by universities keen to protect their reputation.
The debate was sparked by the case of Sal Fiore, a senior lecturer in computing at Wolverhampton. An investigation by The Times Higher has established that he was sacked on grounds of gross misconduct last month following a series of e-mails.
Evidence against him included a posting he had made to a discussion forum in which he named Wolverhampton in association with general bullying allegations. Dr Fiore had also contributed to a blog for bullied academics - bulliedacademics.blogspot.com - where academics this week complained that they were under surveillance. One said that managers use postings "to 'get' their targets on some violation of university policy". Another said that bosses were "snooping around, looking for 'evidence".
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: "Academics should not be made to feel that any comment they make may be picked up by some sort of university spy team and used against them." [Thank you Sally - such a radical statement!]
Peter Reader, director of marketing and communications at Bath University, said that there was "huge interest" in such websites and that universities were beginning to monitor them.
Wolverhampton confirmed that Dr Fiore's dismissal related to a number of incidents. Geoff Hurd, deputy vice-chancellor, said: "No member of staff has been, or ever will be, dismissed for exercising their right to freedom of speech."
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Dear Geoff Hurd, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Wolverhampton University,
Of course it is impossible to prove that "No member of staff has been, or ever will be, dismissed for exercising their right to freedom of speech." It is normal routine to 'manufacture' new 'evidence' against the staff member to be eliminated from his/her position.
Regarding allegations of 'spying' we have evidence that on May 18, 2007, at 9.12am somebody from your university - and yes, it could be anyone - visited this blog and then followed the link to the online forum to read 'Pack of Wolves, Part 2'. Now who would have an interest in this story, and if it is not you, is it somebody you know?
How likely is it that a staff member - in full knowledge that online communications are monitored in HEIs - would use their work PC to try to join the online forum? Slim chance.
Mr Hurd you are welcome to visit this blog and the online forum - there is much that we can learn from each other...
May 18, 2007
Question for/about HEFCE
Anonymous said...What does one do when one obtains hard evidence that the Governors are themselves violating the Nolan principles? Does one need to go public with this evidence in order to stop the Governors from continuing their abuses?
What if HEFCE Board Members are in on the improper behavior? What would one do if one had evidence that a HEFCE Board Member engaged in collusion with a panel of a Board of Governors hearing a grievance appeal?
Where does one go with all of this?
------------------------------------------------ The seven principles of public life as articulated by the Nolan Committee, are integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. They apply to higher education institutions and holders of related titles and offices.
Quote from Nolan report: '...Institutions of higher and further education should make it clear that the institution permits staff to speak freely and without being subject to disciplinary sanctions or victimisation about academic standards and related matters, providing that they do so lawfully, without malice, and in the public interest...'
Also from: Whistleblowing Revisited - Tenth Report, January 2005
...After the first comprehensive review of how whistleblowing is working in the UK, the Committee on Standards in Public Life made some wide-ranging and important recommendations. In its report the Committee stresses the importance of leadership and sets out whistleblowing best practice.
One of its recommendations was that: Leaders of public bodies should reiterate their commitment to the effective implementation of the Public Interest Disclosure 1998 and ensure its principles and provisions are widely known and applicable in their own organisation. They should commit their organisations to following the four key elements of good practice i.e.
(i) Ensuring that staff are aware of and trust the whistleblowing avenues;
(ii) Provision of realistic advice about what the whistleblowing process means for openness, confidentiality and anonymity;
(iii) Continual review of how the procedures work in practice; and
(iv) Regular communication to staff about the avenues open to them.
----------------------
HEFCE will reply:
'...Higher education institutions are legally independent corporate bodies. Their councils or boards of governors are responsible for the effective management and future development of their affairs. They are ultimately responsible for all affairs of the institution.
The fourth edition of the Committee of University Chairmen's 'Guide for Members of Governing Bodies of Universities and Colleges in the UK' (HEFCE 2004/40) was published in 2004, in association with the UK funding bodies.
The guide outlines the legal status of institutions, their governance, and the responsibilities of their governing bodies. It shares and encourages appropriate adoption of current good practice across the higher education sector. A voluntary code of practice is proposed to which, it is hoped, [Hope is a great thing and pigs fly] all institutions will be able to subscribe or explain where their practices differ...'
HEFCE will also say:
'...Allegations concerning higher education institutions: HEFCE policy and procedure
The HEFCE and its Audit Service receive, from time to time, a range of allegations of financial irregularity or impropriety, mismanagement, waste and fraud in higher education institutions, from a variety of sources. The attached annex sets out our procedure for dealing with allegations.
We welcome these allegations insofar as they are brought to our attention in good faith and relate to our statutory functions. Our public interest disclosure, or whistleblowing, procedure has been in existence for a number of years and it has guided the Audit Service in dealing with allegations received. The volume of cases is increasing, and the interaction with those making a public interest disclosure is becoming more complex. Therefore, the policy and procedure have been reviewed and redrafted, informed by legal advice.
If you require any further information, please contact Paul Greaves, tel 0117 931 7378, e-mail p.greaves@hefce.ac.uk.
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Now let us think about this... If you are about to whistleblow and you are employed by an HEI, the chances are that you will loose your job and HEFCE will not be able to stop this. When they make their enquiries with your employer, they will mention your name to them. They will not be able to demand that your university follows correct precedures in dismissing you. Also, there are many university managers that have close working relationships with HEFCE...
Back to the original sin (question): Where does one go with all of this? The local MP is unlikely to challenge the local university. The appropriate minister is caught up in the post-Blair situation - He recently referred us to the courts and Employment Laws wishing us good luck.
Now ask: At what price to the victim/target, the taxpayer, the students and education in general? How many more good academics will be bullied out of their jobs?
May 17, 2007
Want to get rid of an annoying academic?
University administrators are familiar with academics who are uncomfortably outspoken, disruptive or different. If these problem staff would just leave the campus, life would be much easier. But how can this desirable outcome be achieved?
The answers are in a book by Kenneth Westhues, Eliminating Professors: A Guide to the Dismissal Process (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998). Westhues, a sociologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, gives a step-by-step account of how administrators can get rid of troublesome academics.
There are five stages. First is ostracism, to cut the victim off from influence and support. Second is administrative harassment, often in petty ways. Then comes the incident, an action by the victim that can trigger formal retribution. The fourth stage covers the various appeal procedures and the final stage is elimination.
Within this framework, there are many specific points of value. For example, the matter of truth can sometimes be an obstacle, but by following Westhues’ practical principles for administrators it can be reduced to manageable dimensions. Principle one, for example, is that charges should be formulated sufficiently vaguely that hard facts are not relevant.
From this description, you might imagine that Westhues is some sort of academic Machiavelli, giving advice to university rulers on maintaining power. Actually, Westhues is on the side of those targeted by administrators. Indeed, he has been a target himself. His book is an extended satire.
After immersing himself in the details of some 25 cases of academics targeted for elimination, Westhues extracted common features and developed his guide for administrators. To personalise his advice, he dubs the hypothetical target for elimination "Dr Pita," an acronym for Pain In The Arse...
The answers are in a book by Kenneth Westhues, Eliminating Professors: A Guide to the Dismissal Process (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998). Westhues, a sociologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, gives a step-by-step account of how administrators can get rid of troublesome academics.
There are five stages. First is ostracism, to cut the victim off from influence and support. Second is administrative harassment, often in petty ways. Then comes the incident, an action by the victim that can trigger formal retribution. The fourth stage covers the various appeal procedures and the final stage is elimination.
Within this framework, there are many specific points of value. For example, the matter of truth can sometimes be an obstacle, but by following Westhues’ practical principles for administrators it can be reduced to manageable dimensions. Principle one, for example, is that charges should be formulated sufficiently vaguely that hard facts are not relevant.
From this description, you might imagine that Westhues is some sort of academic Machiavelli, giving advice to university rulers on maintaining power. Actually, Westhues is on the side of those targeted by administrators. Indeed, he has been a target himself. His book is an extended satire.
After immersing himself in the details of some 25 cases of academics targeted for elimination, Westhues extracted common features and developed his guide for administrators. To personalise his advice, he dubs the hypothetical target for elimination "Dr Pita," an acronym for Pain In The Arse...
Review of Kenneth Westhues, Eliminating Professors: A Guide to the Dismissal Process (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998), published in Campus Review, Vol. 9, No. 38, 6-12 October 1999, p. 12. Written by Brian Martin.
Pack of Wolves #2
...This story describes how my partner endured breaches of contract, bullying and misconduct by managers during his probationary year and, despite his probation being concluded, how such conduct was turned against him as the basis, for the first but not last time, of a spurious attempt to formally discipline him...After many breaches, dismissed complaints and breakdown in communication by the School, my partner was called in to meet with the Dean Moreton. During the meeting, despite acknowledging that the events my partner cited constituted "unprofessional conduct" by the colleagues concerned and seemingly recording my partner's allegations of bullying, Prof Moreton used the meeting to accuse my partner of having relationship problems which he needed to address...
Strangely enough, while my partner's probation was due to end on 31 August 2005, the 3 month extension was declared to be until 31 December. Either the Dean was trying to impose a prohibited 16 month probation or there were serious problems in managing dates within the School; either way the extension was not admissible and its handling represented yet another contract breach.
The letter dated 7 September was clearly instead a disciplinary letter. It invited my partner to "a formal probationary review meeting" at 10am on Tuesday 13 September. This was itself impossible given that his probation officially had ended on 31 August. However, my partner and I attended to answer to the two spurious allegations set out in the letter...
By Melody Boyce - The complete story available at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bullied_academics/
Procedures for making allegations concerning higher education institutions and the 2008 RAE - UK
The 2008 RAE is managed on behalf of the higher education funding bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (HEFCE, SFC, HEFCW and DEL) by a project team based at HEFCE.Different procedures are in place for making and investigating allegations of financial irregularity or impropriety, mismanagement, waste or fraud (public interest disclosures) about the higher education institutions (HEIs) funded by each funding body. Disclosures concerning HEIs and the RAE will be handled through these same procedures.
If you wish to make such an allegation concerning an HEI and the 2008 RAE, either about its preparations for the RAE or its submissions, then you should follow the procedure that applies in the relevant country.
- For allegations concerning an English HEI funded by HEFCE, please follow HEFCE's procedure.
- For allegations concerning a Scottish HEI funded by SFC, please follow the procedure described in paragraph 23 of Guide for members of governing bodies of Scottish higher education institutions and good practice benchmarks' (SHEFC, HE/05/99).
- You can also refer to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
- For allegations concerning a Welsh HEI funded by HEFCW, please follow HEFCW's procedure.
- For allegations concerning a Northern Ireland HEI funded by DEL, please follow DEL's procedure.
- The RAE team will handle allegations of perceived irregularity within RAE submissions that it receives from chairs or members of RAE panels during the assessment process through the RAE data verification procedures.
Any allegations of irregularity or impropriety on the part of members or chairs of RAE main or sub-panels will be treated as complaints.
--------------------
...The criteria and working methods encourage higher education institutions (HEIs) to submit the work of all of their excellent researchers in the 2008 RAE, including those whose volume of research output may have been limited for reasons covered by equal opportunities legislation...
--------------------
...The legal framework for the RAE: a changing context
7. Since the last RAE there has been an increase in the scope and application of equalities legislation that encompasses all functions of HEIs and of the UK higher education (HE) funding bodies, including the RAE.
8. This means that, throughout all stages of the planning and implementation of the RAE, legislative requirements must be met by HEIs and the funding bodies. HEIs, funding bodies, and panels acting on behalf of the funding bodies may be open to external scrutiny. HEIs and funding bodies may be open to challenges in respect of their operation of the law.
9. HEIs will need to meet legislative requirements in selecting their staff for inclusion in RAE submissions. The funding bodies, through the RAE team, will require HEIs to confirm that they have developed, adopted and documented an appropriate internal code of practice in preparing RAE submissions and selecting staff for inclusion.
-------------------
From: http://www.rae.ac.uk
May 14, 2007
Let us not forget the governors...
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has produced practical guidance for auditors and companies on the obligations in the revised Combined Code on Corporate Governance. Encouraging companies to follow our approach, the ICAEW recommends that boards should ask about the following questions:
------------------------------------------------
One wonders if there are similar guidelines for Governors of universities and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The seven principles of public life (Nolan Committee) do apply to the governance of HEIs. There is also a guide of best practice, BUT no real accountability or policing.
OK, HEFCE, QAA, HEA... To whom are governors accountable? An answer we received not too long ago from somebody in HEFCE, suggested that governors are accountable to the other governors that elect/appoint them! Impressive.
To whom are governors really accountable?
- Is there evidence that the board regularly considers whistleblowing procedures as part of its review of the system of internal control?
- Are there issues or incidents which have otherwise come to the board's attention which they would have expected to have been raised earlier under the company's whistleblowing procedures?
- Where appropriate, has the internal audit function performed any work that provides additional assurance on the effectiveness of the whistleblowing procedures?
- Are there adequate procedures to track the actions taken in relation to concerns made and ensure appropriate follow-up action has been taken to investigate and, if necessary, resolve problems indicated by whistleblowing?
- Are there adequate procedures for retaining evidence in relation to each concern?
- Have confidentiality issues been handled effectively?
- Is there evidence of timely and constructive feedback?
- Have any events come to the committee's or the board's attention that might indicate that a staff member has not been fairly treated as a result of raising concerns?
- Is a review of staff awareness of the procedures needed?
------------------------------------------------
One wonders if there are similar guidelines for Governors of universities and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The seven principles of public life (Nolan Committee) do apply to the governance of HEIs. There is also a guide of best practice, BUT no real accountability or policing.
OK, HEFCE, QAA, HEA... To whom are governors accountable? An answer we received not too long ago from somebody in HEFCE, suggested that governors are accountable to the other governors that elect/appoint them! Impressive.
To whom are governors really accountable?
A Golden Oldie: The Mobs of Academe - Excerpts from an online discussion
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The guest: Kenneth Westhues is a Professor of sociology at the University of Waterloo who has written a five-volume series about mobbing in academe and who frequently visits college campuses to collect data on episodes of mobbing.
'...Academe is a perfect petri dish for the culture of mobbing, according to the sociologist Kenneth Westhues, thanks to its relatively high job security, subjective measures of performance, and frequent tension between individual professors' goals and the goals of the institution. The victims of mobbing are not always wholly innocent, he says, but the campaigns against them are often based on fuzzy charges, take place in secret, happen fast, and are full of overheated rhetoric. And yet academics tend to think they are immune from the groupthink that characterizes mobbing...'
'...Mobbing is especially tragic when the target is a young scholar who has not yet had a chance to acquire credentials to fall back on. The graduate student most at risk is an independent thinker whose scholarly record (e. g., publications) threatens the supervising professors. So yes, of course, mobbing happens at all levels. My priority has been on the mobbing of professors because if professors are not secure, graduate students working with them are even less secure.
How does one heal from the humiliation of being mobbed? The general answer is, "Slowly." Support from family and friends is indispensable. Some kind of professional counselling may or may not be helpful. Healing happens above all as the mobbing target regains confidence by renewed achievements in whatever is the relevant field -- or in an altogether new field of work. It can be really, really hard for a mobbing target to "move on," but it gets easier with every day of successful negotiation of relationships at home and at work...'
'...First, encourage administrators and colleagues to inform themselves about the mobbing research (the mobbing.ca website is a rich resource, so is the book, Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, by Noa Davenport and her colleagues in Iowa, or one can simply google "mobbing"). The more aware we make ourselves of the human tendency to mob, the more able we are to control that tendency in ourselves and others.
Specific step number two is to keep campus media for discussion and debate alive and active. A vigorous campus press helps a lot. So do chat rooms for faculty. I often quote Churchill's line, "It is always better to jaw, jaw, than to war, war." Yes, it sounds better with a British accent.
Third and probably most important, stand with mobbing targets. In most healthy, productive, well-functioning departments and faculties, one can identify individuals who do not let colleagues get mobbed. Such individuals have the guts to say at crucial moments, "Cut it out." They are what researchers call "guardians" of prospective targets. They are willing to be seen with a mobbing target and to speak up for him or her when that is a risky, unpopular thing to do...'
'...The starting point for any possibly effective action to stop or turn back a mobbing has to be a careful analysis of the structure of the mob. Who, one asks, is the instigator, the "chief eliminator"? Sometimes this is the administrator who formally leads the exclusionary action, but sometimes such an administrator is only responding to the ardent wishes of some number of colleagues. The goal, generally speaking, is to "break up" the mob, to try to take some kind of action that will get the professors to behave as independent, reasoned thinkers, as they're supposed to be, instead of like a bunch of sheep...'
Complete online discussion available at: http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2006/04/mobbing/
The guest: Kenneth Westhues is a Professor of sociology at the University of Waterloo who has written a five-volume series about mobbing in academe and who frequently visits college campuses to collect data on episodes of mobbing.
'...Academe is a perfect petri dish for the culture of mobbing, according to the sociologist Kenneth Westhues, thanks to its relatively high job security, subjective measures of performance, and frequent tension between individual professors' goals and the goals of the institution. The victims of mobbing are not always wholly innocent, he says, but the campaigns against them are often based on fuzzy charges, take place in secret, happen fast, and are full of overheated rhetoric. And yet academics tend to think they are immune from the groupthink that characterizes mobbing...'
'...Mobbing is especially tragic when the target is a young scholar who has not yet had a chance to acquire credentials to fall back on. The graduate student most at risk is an independent thinker whose scholarly record (e. g., publications) threatens the supervising professors. So yes, of course, mobbing happens at all levels. My priority has been on the mobbing of professors because if professors are not secure, graduate students working with them are even less secure.
How does one heal from the humiliation of being mobbed? The general answer is, "Slowly." Support from family and friends is indispensable. Some kind of professional counselling may or may not be helpful. Healing happens above all as the mobbing target regains confidence by renewed achievements in whatever is the relevant field -- or in an altogether new field of work. It can be really, really hard for a mobbing target to "move on," but it gets easier with every day of successful negotiation of relationships at home and at work...'
'...First, encourage administrators and colleagues to inform themselves about the mobbing research (the mobbing.ca website is a rich resource, so is the book, Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace, by Noa Davenport and her colleagues in Iowa, or one can simply google "mobbing"). The more aware we make ourselves of the human tendency to mob, the more able we are to control that tendency in ourselves and others.
Specific step number two is to keep campus media for discussion and debate alive and active. A vigorous campus press helps a lot. So do chat rooms for faculty. I often quote Churchill's line, "It is always better to jaw, jaw, than to war, war." Yes, it sounds better with a British accent.
Third and probably most important, stand with mobbing targets. In most healthy, productive, well-functioning departments and faculties, one can identify individuals who do not let colleagues get mobbed. Such individuals have the guts to say at crucial moments, "Cut it out." They are what researchers call "guardians" of prospective targets. They are willing to be seen with a mobbing target and to speak up for him or her when that is a risky, unpopular thing to do...'
'...The starting point for any possibly effective action to stop or turn back a mobbing has to be a careful analysis of the structure of the mob. Who, one asks, is the instigator, the "chief eliminator"? Sometimes this is the administrator who formally leads the exclusionary action, but sometimes such an administrator is only responding to the ardent wishes of some number of colleagues. The goal, generally speaking, is to "break up" the mob, to try to take some kind of action that will get the professors to behave as independent, reasoned thinkers, as they're supposed to be, instead of like a bunch of sheep...'
Complete online discussion available at: http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2006/04/mobbing/
May 13, 2007
6th International Conference on Workplace Bullying
Call for Papers - 6th International Conference on Workplace Bullying - Sharing our Knowledge 4th – 6tth June 2008, École des Sciences de la Gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Bullying has been a source of growing concern in contemporary organizations, and the international dimension to this conference will highlight the fact that the problem is not constrained by borders or culture. Following the highly successful conferences of Stafford (1998), Brisbane (2000), London (2002), Bergen (2004) and Dublin (2006), the 2008 conference in Montreal will seek to provide a leading edge overview of our current knowledge of bullying in the workplace.
The intersection between different research traditions, theoretical and methodological backgrounds, as well as between research and practice, are necessary conditions for the development of new ideas and theories, and we are eager to encourage such an expansion of knowledge in our conference.
We invite researchers, business and organizational representatives, labour leaders, industry representatives, lawyers, human resources, health and psychological professionals, and practitioners from all disciplines who are involved in research and/or practice on bullying at work to submit proposals for poster presentations, and papers on new research findings, prevention/intervention programs, and policies that address the problem of bullying at work. Students and junior researchers are invited to share their research as well...
Please note that the deadline for Posters and Papers is December 1, 2007
Bullying has been a source of growing concern in contemporary organizations, and the international dimension to this conference will highlight the fact that the problem is not constrained by borders or culture. Following the highly successful conferences of Stafford (1998), Brisbane (2000), London (2002), Bergen (2004) and Dublin (2006), the 2008 conference in Montreal will seek to provide a leading edge overview of our current knowledge of bullying in the workplace.
The intersection between different research traditions, theoretical and methodological backgrounds, as well as between research and practice, are necessary conditions for the development of new ideas and theories, and we are eager to encourage such an expansion of knowledge in our conference.
We invite researchers, business and organizational representatives, labour leaders, industry representatives, lawyers, human resources, health and psychological professionals, and practitioners from all disciplines who are involved in research and/or practice on bullying at work to submit proposals for poster presentations, and papers on new research findings, prevention/intervention programs, and policies that address the problem of bullying at work. Students and junior researchers are invited to share their research as well...
Please note that the deadline for Posters and Papers is December 1, 2007
E-mail : bullying@er.uqam.ca - More info
Cheat Line - UK
Blow the whistle on cheating lab rats - By Phil Baty, Times Higher Education Supplement, 11 May 2007Is your colleague fiddling his research data? Is your head of department too quick to "borrow" your ideas without acknowledging your input? Is your research student so eager to make her name that she is cutting corners in the laboratory? If so, you may want to consider calling the UK's first research whistleblowers' "hotline", meant to ensure that misconduct is properly investigated and the perpetrators held to account.
From May 11, the UK Research Integrity Office's new hotline - 0844 77 00 644 - will be open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. Callers will be offered practical advice, drawing on a panel of experts, on what is and is not acceptable research practice and how to take allegations of wrongdoing forward. The hotline will also advise universities.
At present, the hotline covers only misconduct in medical research and biomedical sciences, but it plans to expand into other fields soon. The UK RIO was launched last April, after a ten-year campaign, with a blistering attack on the UK's "good chaps" network and general complacency towards research fraud and misconduct.
But those hoping that a call to the integrity office will lead to an immediate investigation followed by remedial action will be sorely disappointed. The UK RIO has no regulatory or investigative powers. It merely dispenses advice on how to use universities' internal procedures and how to engage the relevant regulatory authorities, thereby placing the onus for action on the callers themselves. [A real toothless tiger...]
Whistleblowers can, of course, call The Times Higher's whistleblowers' hotline (020 7782 3298), where they can speak in complete confidence about how cases of misconduct might be brought into the public domain.
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