Channel 4 is making a documentary about the commercialisation of higher education. One of the areas the programme will explore is the conflict between university managements' desire to increase revenue and the necessity to maintain academic standards.
We are looking to speak on or off the record to academics who feel that standards are being compromised, for example by inflating grades and overlooking poor standards in English, as their institutions seek to maximise income from tuition fees from both UK and overseas students.
If you are willing to speak to me off the record and in confidence, please do get in touch in the strictest confidence.
Gurbir Dhillon - Assistant Producer - Vera Productions
Tel: 0207-292-1480 / 07768-725121
Email: gurbir@vera.co.uk
March 07, 2011
February 23, 2011
The Envy of Excellence: Administrative Mobbing of High-Achieving Professors
A Sample Selection from Kenneth Westhues, The Envy of Excellence: Administrative Mobbing of High-Achieving Professors, Lewiston: NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2004, 2006.
Elimination in the Narrower, Stronger Sense
The word elimination does not apply equally to all instances of a member of a group being punished, expelled, or humiliated. Every day, restaurant clerks and customers are injured and killed during armed robberies. Yet these tragedies are categorically distinct from the robbery of a New York Wendy’s outlet by an angry ex-employee on May 24, 2000, after which police found the manager and other employees bound, gagged, and shot dead in the restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator: Police had suspected the Wendy’s heist was an inside job because the killers seemed intent on eliminating the victims. “There’s a reason you shoot seven people for a couple of thousand bucks,”one investigator said. (Ridder 2000)
It is this exceptional “reason” that distinguishes cases of elimination, properly so called. It means human beings going after somebody as an end in itself. Interaction turns into a game with no object but to make someone lose, a drama with no plot but to drop some actor from the cast.
For grasping the difference between elimination in its broader, weaker sense, and in the narrower, stronger sense intended here, the hugely popular first season of the CBS documentary, Survivor, aired in the summer of 2000, is worth recalling. Sixteen contestants were secluded on a tropical island, expected to satisfy collectively their subsistence needs and to compete in tests of survival skills. They were divided into two tribes. Each week, a tribe was called together to vote one of its members off the island. As the numbers dwindled, the two tribes were combined, and the weekly voting of one member out continued. The last survivor would win $1 million.
Here was a game, an elimination ritual, that tapped something deep inside the human psyche. Week after week, the show’s ratings soared. How would the group dynamic play out? Who would be voted off next? For the first few weeks, the contestants voted off seemed to be those with fewer survival skills, and those contributing least to group achievements and morale. Most contestants seemed to like and respect almost everybody else, and to be reluctant to get rid of anyone: “I’m sorry to have to vote against X, but the game requires me to make a choice.” This was elimination in the general, looser sense.
Halfway through the series, for its issue of July 8-14, 2000, TV Guide asked a panel of experts to rate the remaining contestants’ chances of surviving to the end and winning the $1 million. The panel ranked a woman named Gretchen as the one most likely to win. An opinion poll of the viewing audience would probably have agreed. Gretchen was competent, skilled, friendly, popular, the apparent leader of her tribe. By most of the relevant criteria, she deserved to win.
To the surprise of the television audience (and to TV Guide’s embarrassment), Gretchen was voted off the very next week, when the two tribes were combined. Members of the other tribe recognized her strengths, formed an alliance, and pooled their votes, consciously and deliberately, to get rid of her. Said one of them, “She had to be voted off because she is bright, and she is strong, and she was a threat” (quoted in Michael 2000).
To the extent this TV game can illustrate a serious point, Gretchen’s ouster was elimination in the stronger, narrower sense. It was not as if the group had coalesced around certain goals or values, reached a consensus about the meaning and purpose of their game, and decided that by these standards, Gretchen was the least valuable or most expendable player. The decision-making process played out in a wholly different way. Her expulsion represented the triumph of imagined collective interest over shared values of any kind. It was a case of Lilliputians bringing down Gulliver.
Is this what happened to Herbert Richardson at Toronto? If it was, it was less obvious than in Gretchen’s case. And if it was, this was no innocent game played for entertainment purposes but a dangerous game played for keeps, where one man’s whole career was on the line. The only way to answer the question is to study the evidence systematically and thoroughly, while keeping in mind what the question is, and what kind of logic and evidence might answer it.
The First, Basic Clue
In lectures on social elimination, I have sometimes said that in every human being are three appetites: for food, for sex, and for humiliating somebody else. The third craving is not ordinarily grouped with the first two. All agree that hunger and sexual desire have a physiological basis, that they drive human behavior in overt and hidden ways, and that they are at times so strong as to preoccupy a person completely, turning him or her into a raging beast, a creature we scarcely recognize as human.
Notwithstanding its less evident basis in biology, the eliminative impulse, the lust to wipe another person out, is categorically similar. It can consume a person to the point of obsession, spread like a virus through a group, and become the driving force behind collective energy. Yet unlike the appetites for food and sex, this one has come to be proscribed in the process of civilization. It is supposed to be held in check by a universal compassion, common allegiance to the “brotherhood of man.” The eliminative impulse, when it does seize control of human behavior, is therefore almost always denied, obscured by the pretense of serving some lofty goal. Girard posits a “persecutory unconscious” in those caught up in the snowballing process (2001, p. 126). It is, he says, what Jesus referred to in his prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23: 34).
How then can one tell when elimination in its stronger, stricter, narrower sense is underway? Are there identifiable symptoms, empirical indicators that an exclusionary process has escaped the bounds of reason and civilization? Against every professor and teacher a protest has at some time been raised by a student who flunked a test: “You have it in for me.” Can the teacher prove otherwise? When an imposter was forced to resign from the faculty of the University of Regina in 2001, after the degrees on her resumé were shown to belong to somebody else, while she herself had no such degrees, her lawyer protested: “It’s a real old-boys club around here. She’s a foreign-looking person. She has her abrasive side, but she’s easy to gang up on” (Perreaux 2001). Was the eliminative impulse, as the lawyer implied, behind the move to get rid of her? If I, like most professors, would defend her ouster, how do I know I am not acting on my own “persecutory unconscious”? Are there reliable signs that elimination in its savage sense is underway?
The first, most basic clue is the eliminators’ focus on the targeted person, rather than on the allegedly offensive act. “The guilty person is so much a part of his offense that one is indistinguishable from the other. His offense seems to be a fantastic essence or ontological attribute” (Girard 1986, p. 36). Social order requires pointing out errors, infractions, and offenses, and imposing penalties on their account–including jail, in the case of criminal behavior that threatens public safety. Social order does not require spoiling a person’s entire identity, which is what elimination means. An explanation of the need for sanctions that includes personally derisive and humiliating statements about the person on whom the sanctions are to be placed, a statement that break this person’s bond with everybody else: this is the basic indication that the eliminative impulse has been unleashed.
Compare two responses parents can make to a child who has just been eliminated from a spelling bee or gymnastics competition. They can say, “This just wasn’t your day, we’re sorry you won’t be going on to the advanced level, better luck next time.” Or they can say (what most of us have overhead on some occasion, and winced), “You stupid little shit, what’s wrong with you, you’ve brought shame on your school, get out of my sight.” These are radically, categorically different social processes. In the first instance, the child’s person is acknowledged and affirmed even in the midst of inadequate performance. In the second instance, a mistake is enlarged to cover and smear the child’s whole identity. Only the second instance illustrates the process that is the focus of the present book.
From: http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/socialelim.htm
Elimination in the Narrower, Stronger Sense
The word elimination does not apply equally to all instances of a member of a group being punished, expelled, or humiliated. Every day, restaurant clerks and customers are injured and killed during armed robberies. Yet these tragedies are categorically distinct from the robbery of a New York Wendy’s outlet by an angry ex-employee on May 24, 2000, after which police found the manager and other employees bound, gagged, and shot dead in the restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator: Police had suspected the Wendy’s heist was an inside job because the killers seemed intent on eliminating the victims. “There’s a reason you shoot seven people for a couple of thousand bucks,”one investigator said. (Ridder 2000)
It is this exceptional “reason” that distinguishes cases of elimination, properly so called. It means human beings going after somebody as an end in itself. Interaction turns into a game with no object but to make someone lose, a drama with no plot but to drop some actor from the cast.
For grasping the difference between elimination in its broader, weaker sense, and in the narrower, stronger sense intended here, the hugely popular first season of the CBS documentary, Survivor, aired in the summer of 2000, is worth recalling. Sixteen contestants were secluded on a tropical island, expected to satisfy collectively their subsistence needs and to compete in tests of survival skills. They were divided into two tribes. Each week, a tribe was called together to vote one of its members off the island. As the numbers dwindled, the two tribes were combined, and the weekly voting of one member out continued. The last survivor would win $1 million.
Here was a game, an elimination ritual, that tapped something deep inside the human psyche. Week after week, the show’s ratings soared. How would the group dynamic play out? Who would be voted off next? For the first few weeks, the contestants voted off seemed to be those with fewer survival skills, and those contributing least to group achievements and morale. Most contestants seemed to like and respect almost everybody else, and to be reluctant to get rid of anyone: “I’m sorry to have to vote against X, but the game requires me to make a choice.” This was elimination in the general, looser sense.
Halfway through the series, for its issue of July 8-14, 2000, TV Guide asked a panel of experts to rate the remaining contestants’ chances of surviving to the end and winning the $1 million. The panel ranked a woman named Gretchen as the one most likely to win. An opinion poll of the viewing audience would probably have agreed. Gretchen was competent, skilled, friendly, popular, the apparent leader of her tribe. By most of the relevant criteria, she deserved to win.
To the surprise of the television audience (and to TV Guide’s embarrassment), Gretchen was voted off the very next week, when the two tribes were combined. Members of the other tribe recognized her strengths, formed an alliance, and pooled their votes, consciously and deliberately, to get rid of her. Said one of them, “She had to be voted off because she is bright, and she is strong, and she was a threat” (quoted in Michael 2000).
To the extent this TV game can illustrate a serious point, Gretchen’s ouster was elimination in the stronger, narrower sense. It was not as if the group had coalesced around certain goals or values, reached a consensus about the meaning and purpose of their game, and decided that by these standards, Gretchen was the least valuable or most expendable player. The decision-making process played out in a wholly different way. Her expulsion represented the triumph of imagined collective interest over shared values of any kind. It was a case of Lilliputians bringing down Gulliver.
Is this what happened to Herbert Richardson at Toronto? If it was, it was less obvious than in Gretchen’s case. And if it was, this was no innocent game played for entertainment purposes but a dangerous game played for keeps, where one man’s whole career was on the line. The only way to answer the question is to study the evidence systematically and thoroughly, while keeping in mind what the question is, and what kind of logic and evidence might answer it.
The First, Basic Clue
In lectures on social elimination, I have sometimes said that in every human being are three appetites: for food, for sex, and for humiliating somebody else. The third craving is not ordinarily grouped with the first two. All agree that hunger and sexual desire have a physiological basis, that they drive human behavior in overt and hidden ways, and that they are at times so strong as to preoccupy a person completely, turning him or her into a raging beast, a creature we scarcely recognize as human.
Notwithstanding its less evident basis in biology, the eliminative impulse, the lust to wipe another person out, is categorically similar. It can consume a person to the point of obsession, spread like a virus through a group, and become the driving force behind collective energy. Yet unlike the appetites for food and sex, this one has come to be proscribed in the process of civilization. It is supposed to be held in check by a universal compassion, common allegiance to the “brotherhood of man.” The eliminative impulse, when it does seize control of human behavior, is therefore almost always denied, obscured by the pretense of serving some lofty goal. Girard posits a “persecutory unconscious” in those caught up in the snowballing process (2001, p. 126). It is, he says, what Jesus referred to in his prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23: 34).
How then can one tell when elimination in its stronger, stricter, narrower sense is underway? Are there identifiable symptoms, empirical indicators that an exclusionary process has escaped the bounds of reason and civilization? Against every professor and teacher a protest has at some time been raised by a student who flunked a test: “You have it in for me.” Can the teacher prove otherwise? When an imposter was forced to resign from the faculty of the University of Regina in 2001, after the degrees on her resumé were shown to belong to somebody else, while she herself had no such degrees, her lawyer protested: “It’s a real old-boys club around here. She’s a foreign-looking person. She has her abrasive side, but she’s easy to gang up on” (Perreaux 2001). Was the eliminative impulse, as the lawyer implied, behind the move to get rid of her? If I, like most professors, would defend her ouster, how do I know I am not acting on my own “persecutory unconscious”? Are there reliable signs that elimination in its savage sense is underway?
The first, most basic clue is the eliminators’ focus on the targeted person, rather than on the allegedly offensive act. “The guilty person is so much a part of his offense that one is indistinguishable from the other. His offense seems to be a fantastic essence or ontological attribute” (Girard 1986, p. 36). Social order requires pointing out errors, infractions, and offenses, and imposing penalties on their account–including jail, in the case of criminal behavior that threatens public safety. Social order does not require spoiling a person’s entire identity, which is what elimination means. An explanation of the need for sanctions that includes personally derisive and humiliating statements about the person on whom the sanctions are to be placed, a statement that break this person’s bond with everybody else: this is the basic indication that the eliminative impulse has been unleashed.
Compare two responses parents can make to a child who has just been eliminated from a spelling bee or gymnastics competition. They can say, “This just wasn’t your day, we’re sorry you won’t be going on to the advanced level, better luck next time.” Or they can say (what most of us have overhead on some occasion, and winced), “You stupid little shit, what’s wrong with you, you’ve brought shame on your school, get out of my sight.” These are radically, categorically different social processes. In the first instance, the child’s person is acknowledged and affirmed even in the midst of inadequate performance. In the second instance, a mistake is enlarged to cover and smear the child’s whole identity. Only the second instance illustrates the process that is the focus of the present book.
From: http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/socialelim.htm
February 12, 2011
Bullying at Stirling University
I worked at Stirling University for 13 years. I was bullied by my manager, Kathy McCabe. I asked her to stop, but the ill treatment continued, and I raised grievances against her. As a result I was dismissed. Stirling University claims to be committed to allowing employees and students to be able to work and study free from bullying, victimisation and discrimination. However, here I provide evidence of the extreme lengths that management takes to protect and support bullies.
Gerry McCormac became Stirling University's Principal in May 2010. He described the university as one of the most respected in the UK. He said his focus would be on providing leadership and "getting the best out of people".
In accordance with the university's grievance procedures, I wrote to Professor McCormac in September 2010 and sent copies of my letter to Alan Simpson, Chair of the University Court, and Dr James Naughtie, University Chancellor. I alerted them to the widespread corruption that exists within the university's senior management.
You might expect that someone who agreed to take up such a responsible position, and who accepts around a quarter of a million pounds a year to perform his duties, would be horrified to learn of this and would be eager to rid the university of corruption as a matter of priority. You might also expect that he would be eager to speak with me to obtain as much information as possible in order for him to fully understand and deal with the very serious problem at Stirling University.
However, you would be wrong. Professor McCormac decided that it would be best to sweep the issue under the carpet.
It is ironic that a university Cleaner earning around £15,000 a year would probably be sacked for sweeping dirt under the carpet. Cleaners are expected to work with integrity; Principals and senior management are not.
Corrupt or what? I see no evidence to suggest that Gerry is anything but corrupt.
Shame on you, Gerry!
Oh dear! Hot off the press; Gerry has been appointed by Education Secretary, Mike Russell to head up a review of teachers' pay and conditions. Labour and Liberal Democrats are worried that the review may be a sham, and that this is just a cost cutting exercise. With Gerry at the helm, I believe they have good reason to be worried.
Gerry is aware that Mark Toole had decided that I should be dismissed because he couldn't deal properly with my grievance against Kathy McCabe's bullying behaviour. It is likely that Kathy's husband, Liam, being the Finance Director was also a factor. I had made protected disclosures about the university's failure to comply with its legal obligations, so the heat was on for the Uni. Mark's lack of integrity caused him to call in well known 'arse licker', Graham Millar, to carry out a sham investigation which was to produce a report recommending a disciplinary be held. Mark would have told Graham not to allow the facts to get in the way of the required report.
Despite all of the evidence that made it obvious I was innocent, Mark dismissed me, and other corrupt directors upheld his decision.
Immediately prior to this, Mark had arranged for Deputy Secretary, Eileen Schofield to carry out a sham investigation relating to my allegations that I had been bullied by my manager, Kathy McCabe, for several years, including bullying that took place in Mark's presence. Amazingly, despite all of the evidence, Eileen produced a report stating that I had not been bullied, but that I had bullied my manager. At appeal, University Secretary, Kevin Clarke upheld her incredible decision.
Gerry knew about all of this when he shrugged off my complaints of corruption. Interestingly, he offered no evidence to refute my claims that senior management is corrupt.
Not satisfied with being paid £250,000 a year and ruining an innocent man's career, Gerry will be hoping to be recommended for inclusion in the honours list for carrying out this review. In my opinion, he should be in jail.
Gerry has a wife and three sons. I suppose he is 'lucky' not to have a conscience.
I suppose it's unfortunate from Gerry's and other corrupt people's point of view, that we now have the internet. The world is becoming more transparent. Corrupt dinosaurs, like Gerry, will hopefully become a feature of the past.
My parents were born more than 70 years before most people had even heard of the internet, but that didn't stop them from raising me to be honest, hard working and ethical. Gerry is the type of person they warned me not to mix with.
I feel sorry for his sons who have been deprived of a normal non corrupt life in which they could achieve their goals based on their own genuine desires and honest abilities.
From: http://bullyingatstirlinguniversity.blogspot.com
Gerry McCormac became Stirling University's Principal in May 2010. He described the university as one of the most respected in the UK. He said his focus would be on providing leadership and "getting the best out of people".
In accordance with the university's grievance procedures, I wrote to Professor McCormac in September 2010 and sent copies of my letter to Alan Simpson, Chair of the University Court, and Dr James Naughtie, University Chancellor. I alerted them to the widespread corruption that exists within the university's senior management.
You might expect that someone who agreed to take up such a responsible position, and who accepts around a quarter of a million pounds a year to perform his duties, would be horrified to learn of this and would be eager to rid the university of corruption as a matter of priority. You might also expect that he would be eager to speak with me to obtain as much information as possible in order for him to fully understand and deal with the very serious problem at Stirling University.
However, you would be wrong. Professor McCormac decided that it would be best to sweep the issue under the carpet.
It is ironic that a university Cleaner earning around £15,000 a year would probably be sacked for sweeping dirt under the carpet. Cleaners are expected to work with integrity; Principals and senior management are not.
Corrupt or what? I see no evidence to suggest that Gerry is anything but corrupt.
Shame on you, Gerry!
Oh dear! Hot off the press; Gerry has been appointed by Education Secretary, Mike Russell to head up a review of teachers' pay and conditions. Labour and Liberal Democrats are worried that the review may be a sham, and that this is just a cost cutting exercise. With Gerry at the helm, I believe they have good reason to be worried.
Gerry is aware that Mark Toole had decided that I should be dismissed because he couldn't deal properly with my grievance against Kathy McCabe's bullying behaviour. It is likely that Kathy's husband, Liam, being the Finance Director was also a factor. I had made protected disclosures about the university's failure to comply with its legal obligations, so the heat was on for the Uni. Mark's lack of integrity caused him to call in well known 'arse licker', Graham Millar, to carry out a sham investigation which was to produce a report recommending a disciplinary be held. Mark would have told Graham not to allow the facts to get in the way of the required report.
Despite all of the evidence that made it obvious I was innocent, Mark dismissed me, and other corrupt directors upheld his decision.
Immediately prior to this, Mark had arranged for Deputy Secretary, Eileen Schofield to carry out a sham investigation relating to my allegations that I had been bullied by my manager, Kathy McCabe, for several years, including bullying that took place in Mark's presence. Amazingly, despite all of the evidence, Eileen produced a report stating that I had not been bullied, but that I had bullied my manager. At appeal, University Secretary, Kevin Clarke upheld her incredible decision.
Gerry knew about all of this when he shrugged off my complaints of corruption. Interestingly, he offered no evidence to refute my claims that senior management is corrupt.
Not satisfied with being paid £250,000 a year and ruining an innocent man's career, Gerry will be hoping to be recommended for inclusion in the honours list for carrying out this review. In my opinion, he should be in jail.
Gerry has a wife and three sons. I suppose he is 'lucky' not to have a conscience.
I suppose it's unfortunate from Gerry's and other corrupt people's point of view, that we now have the internet. The world is becoming more transparent. Corrupt dinosaurs, like Gerry, will hopefully become a feature of the past.
My parents were born more than 70 years before most people had even heard of the internet, but that didn't stop them from raising me to be honest, hard working and ethical. Gerry is the type of person they warned me not to mix with.
I feel sorry for his sons who have been deprived of a normal non corrupt life in which they could achieve their goals based on their own genuine desires and honest abilities.
From: http://bullyingatstirlinguniversity.blogspot.com
January 30, 2011
In defense of Howard Lipman
An employee has filed a federal complaint against Ohio University claiming she was stripped of paid administrative leave and her son was kicked out of a masters program in retaliation to sexual harassment and bullying claims she made against former OU vice president Howard Lipman.
Molly Taylor-Elkins spent almost two years as Lipman's executive assistant. She says she felt harassed and bullied by Lipman and that on multiple occasions he made inappropriate sexual comments to her and other female employees.
A university investigation conducted last year agreed Lipman created a hostile work environment but couldn't find enough evidence to substantiate the sexual harassment claims.
Elkins says OU then removed her from paid administrative leave and placed her on sick leave - cutting off her income until she returns to campus next month.
Her son received a letter of admittance to OU's sports administration masters program Feb. 9, according to records provided to The Post. But on March 30, about four weeks after Elkins filed complaints against Lipman, her son received another letter from the program - saying his application had been denied.
In July, Elkins filed a discrimination complaint against the university with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Although the EEOC investigation is still pending, Elkins has demanded $225,000 in damages, free OU tuition for her and two children, and five years paid medical expenses from the university.
"It's not about the money - it's treating people right and being held accountable," she said.
OU says the discrimination claims are unfounded and refused the settlement.
OU President Roderick McDavis and officials in the sports administration program would not comment on Elkins' assertions or the pending EEOC investigation.
Lipman, who left OU in December for a similar, higher-paying position at Florida International University, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
From: http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu
Also: http://kittywampus.wordpress.com
Molly Taylor-Elkins spent almost two years as Lipman's executive assistant. She says she felt harassed and bullied by Lipman and that on multiple occasions he made inappropriate sexual comments to her and other female employees.
A university investigation conducted last year agreed Lipman created a hostile work environment but couldn't find enough evidence to substantiate the sexual harassment claims.
Elkins says OU then removed her from paid administrative leave and placed her on sick leave - cutting off her income until she returns to campus next month.
Her son received a letter of admittance to OU's sports administration masters program Feb. 9, according to records provided to The Post. But on March 30, about four weeks after Elkins filed complaints against Lipman, her son received another letter from the program - saying his application had been denied.
In July, Elkins filed a discrimination complaint against the university with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Although the EEOC investigation is still pending, Elkins has demanded $225,000 in damages, free OU tuition for her and two children, and five years paid medical expenses from the university.
"It's not about the money - it's treating people right and being held accountable," she said.
OU says the discrimination claims are unfounded and refused the settlement.
OU President Roderick McDavis and officials in the sports administration program would not comment on Elkins' assertions or the pending EEOC investigation.
Lipman, who left OU in December for a similar, higher-paying position at Florida International University, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
From: http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu
Also: http://kittywampus.wordpress.com
January 23, 2011
Professor Bob Burgess (Vice-Chancellor, University of Leicester) and the honours system
There is nothing new in the view that the British honours system is a discreditable institution. I believe that my encounter with the system adds weight to calls for the system to be reformed or abolished.As explained in an earlier post on this website ('About the University of Leicester', 21 January 2010 - see also 'Legal and other costs - the University of Leicester and others', 17 April 2010), I have been involved in legal proceedings that I brought against my former employer (I resigned in 2007), the University of Leicester, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Burgess, and the (now former) Director of Personnel Services, Dr Alison Hall. The respondents denied the allegations. In November 2009 the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) dismissed an application I had made concerning case management matters in the Leicester Employment Tribunal (there had been no hearing on the merits in the Leicester Tribunal). On 19th January 2010 the EAT published a misleading and superficial judgment delivered by Mr Justice McMcullen, that judge essentially upholding earlier irrational decisions of Judge President Underhill.
In January 2010 I learned that Professor Burgess had been awarded a knighthood by Elizabeth the Queen in the New Year's honours round.
I understand, from information in the public domain concerning the time-scale for processing a nomination, that the decision in the honours machinery to award the knighthood would have been taken while the legal proceedings were still live. If that is not correct, it must at least have been the case that the nomination for an honour would have been making its way through the honours machinery while my legal case was before the EAT and the Leicester Employment Tribunal. And, so far as the EAT judgment is concerned, since the EAT is not the last tier in the legal process, my legal proceedings could not have been considered to be at an end when Professor Burgess was awarded the knighthood.
Information concerning the award of the knighthood to Professor Burgess was sought on my behalf from the Honours and Appointments Secretariat in the Cabinet Office under the Freedom of Information Act. That request was refused by the Honours and Appointments Secretariat and an application for an internal review of the decision was unsuccessful. At the heart of these refusals was the bizarre assertion that confidentiality was essential to the integrity of the honours system. (One element of this secrecy is the 'principle' that a nominee for an honour should not know who nominated them or what was said in the nomination.) My position was that disclosure of the information was in the public interest.
I wish to make clear that I am not arguing here that Professor Burgess had breached the law in respect of the issues I had raised in the ET proceedings. A person is of course innocent until proved guilty. The questions are rather of a different kind. Some of these, taken from the aforementioned application for review of the decision of the Honours and Appointments Secretariat, follow below:
'It is contended that in awarding a knighthood to Professor Burgess when it did, the State effectively interfered in the legal process, putting Professor Burgess and those associated with him in the legal proceedings (other respondents, witnesses for the respondents and the respondents' legal representatives) at an advantage in those proceedings. This is because of the high esteem in which people awarded an honour, especially a knighthood, seem to be held, at least among the more privileged in society. As material explaining the honours system tells the public, recipients of honours are considered by those in the honours machinery to be "exceptional", to have "moral courage and vision" and have undergone investigation to ensure that there are no questions about their "probity". Being awarded an honour undoubtedly involves an elevation of status in the eyes of some. And in Dr Truter's case, the respondents' representatives appear to have considered that status was a factor that would be taken into account by judges, emphasising on more than one occasion in the ET the "senior" status of individuals on the respondents' side and also the fact that the chair of an internal grievance committee was "himself an Employment Judge".' (This grievance committee was responsible for dealing with certain grievances I had submitted before I resigned from my post at the University of Leicester.)
Accompanying the above representations in the application for a review of the decision of the Honours and Appointments Secretariat was the submission that 'questions arising from what has occurred are such as to add to the need for the disclosure of the information previously requested as a matter of public interest', some of the questions being:
- 'According to the Phillips Report, [*] a past "civil judgment reflecting on the probity of the individual would be taken into account" in considering whether someone is fit to receive an honour. Is it the policy to award someone an honour even where such a person is a respondent in legal proceedings? If there are legal proceedings, one consideration might be whether the processing of a nomination should be postponed until the proceedings are concluded, in the interests of the public purse. Clearly, if a recipient of an honour involved in such proceedings is subsequently found by a court or tribunal to have acted unlawfully, and it is then considered necessary to strip him or her of the honour, there would have been a wasting of public funds involved in both the processing of the nomination and the removal of the honour.'
* Report of a review of the honours system undertaken by Sir Hayden Phillips in 2004.
- 'If it is the policy to bestow an honour even in circumstances where there are legal proceedings against the relevant individual, are those involved in the process of investigation and conferral advised that this could mean that they might become drawn into legal proceedings, for example, as witnesses?'
- 'Did Professor Burgess or anyone providing information in respect of his nomination disclose the fact that he was a respondent in legal proceedings? If the reply is in the negative, does this tell us anything about (a) the quality or vigour of the scrutiny of nominations; (b) Professor Burgess's suitability for an honour (if he did not reveal that he was a respondent)? If the reply is in the affirmative, was any further information requested with a view to establishing whether anything might suggest that Professor Burgess's conduct in respect of Dr Truter was not consistent with one or more of the principles of public life? Were any misrepresentations made in respect of the legal proceedings? Were any University of Leicester staff survey results requested for the period in which Professor Burgess has occupied the position of Vice-Chancellor?'
- 'Might any of those involved in the process, including the nominator, have been motivated by a wish to help Professor Burgess and/or those associated with him in the legal proceedings, or have any other questionable motive? And did any of those persons have any connections with judicial officers? As indicated in the [post on the UK bullied academics website headed "About the University of Leicester"], there are questions concerning connections or associations between the respondents and the judiciary which were never examined by the ET or EAT as the law requires.'
There are other issues that I believe need to be explored in the public interest. For instance, the Queen is the Visitor of the University of Leicester, a position that I understand gives her an adjudicative role in respect of certain internal matters; is it really appropriate for her to be conferring honours on individuals she may be called to judge on? Another question, as suggested in the above request for a review of the Honours and Appointments Secretariat decision not to disclose information regarding Professor Burgess's knighthood (and of relevance not only to the award of honours in the higher education sector, but also in other sectors), is whether those in the honours machinery seek to establish through hard data, such as staff surveys, whether there are any employment relations matters that might reflect negatively on a manager or head of an organisation who has been nominated for an honour. For information, a Staff Attitude Survey undertaken in 2004 at the University of Leicester - several years after Professor Burgess took up post as Vice-Chancellor - identified these issues, among others: 33% of academic staff did not think it safe to speak up and challenge the way things were done; 19% of staff said they had been 'subjected to unacceptable behaviours at work'; there was a need to 'improve management and supervisory skills of senior staff'; there was a need for 'more transparency in decision making and intentions'; there was a need 'to talk and listen to staff no matter how far down the ladder they are'; there was a need for 'more staff to avoid excessive workloads'. I am also aware of the results of a survey undertaken in 2006 as part of the University of Leicester's legal duty to implement a disability equality scheme. Those results showed a less than rosy picture in respect of attitudes towards disabled staff within the University of Leicester.
The issue of managers' pay is also potentially relevant in the area of staff relations and is of course also currently very sensitive for the public generally in respect of the public sector and institutions such as banks that are propped up by public funds. In respect of universities, it is no doubt also a sensitive issue for students. So far as Professor Burgess is concerned, the Leicester Mercury newspaper reported on 22nd September 2010 that Professor Burgess '[topped] the public sector rich list [in Leicestershire] with a £245,000 package in the past financial year' (2009/10). That figure is well above the average of a significant proportion of other staff in the University of Leicester. I also understand that in percentage terms, Professor Burgess's pay increase in the aforementioned period greatly exceeded that of most of his colleagues in the University. To be sure, Professor Burgess is not alone in this. The question is, should the Queen, the Prime Minister and others in the honours machinery be holding people up who allow this to happen, whether in the public sector or the private sector, as pillars of the community?
I am adding here a postscript to my initial contribution on this website, 'About the University of Leicester'. In mid-2010, a few months after Professor Burgess received the knighthood, Professor Burgess was made a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire by the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Jennifer Lady Gretton JP. (As a footnote, it appears that Professor Burgess's appointment was made in honour of service to the local community. The details of this service do not seem to be specified. There is information showing that the University of Leicester is one of the sponsors of the Lord Lieutenant's 'Award for Young People', but - presuming the sponsorship has a financial element - this could not be the service for which Professor Burgess was honoured since it would surely constitute a kind of cash for honours situation - and all the worse since the cash would presumably be that obtained from the public perhaps including financially hard-pressed students in fees. The service to the community given by Professor Burgess must then be something else.)
The Lord Lieutenant is the Queen's official representative for Leicestershire, carrying out various functions on the Queen's behalf. Deputy Lord Lieutenants such as Professor Burgess undertake engagements and duties which include representing the Lord Lieutenant. While it is the High Sheriff who (according to information published by the Lord Lieutenant's office) 'has precedence when in attendance upon Her Majesty's High Court Judges at the Crown Court', one of the 'main duties' of the Lord Lieutenant is 'Leadership of the Local Magistracy as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace (Magistrates)'.
As I indicated in the post headed 'About the University of Leicester', there was evidence suggesting associations or connections between the University of Leicester and the ET, but - despite legal and ethical principles requiring such questions to be addressed - neither the ET nor the EAT responded to the matter. And the respondents remained silent on the relevant submissions that were made on my behalf. Given that Professor Burgess's appointment as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant carries with it associations with judicial officers, there would now seem to be even more reason for anyone who might find themselves involved in a legal dispute with Professor Burgess and/or the University of Leicester to press for clear disclosure in legal proceedings of the nature and extent of connections or associations with the judiciary. Such connections or associations are not illegal but transparency is crucial.
Glynis M. Truter
LL.B. (Hons.) (King's College London), PG Dip. Legal Practice (College of Law), LL.M. (King's College London), Ph.D. (Cambridge)
January 13, 2011
Univ of Texas hires abusive boss sued for creating hostile work environment
In early 2009, Sagun Tuli, MD, Harvard’s first female spinal surgeon, was awarded over $1.5 million in damages incurred from a hostile work environment, including discrimination and retaliation, at the hands of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and its then chief of neurosurgery, Arthur L. Day, MD.
A seven-week trial by jury found Brigham and Women’s and Day responsible for creating a severe hostile work environment that was motivated in part by Tuli’s gender and/or national origin (she was born in India). Day, who has had three gender bias cases brought against him in the recent past, including Tuli’s, resigned from his Harvard post in December 2009.
Now, less than a year after Day’s resignation, the University of Texas (UT) has hired and appointed him as residency program director and vice chair for education at the UT medical school’s neurosurgery department at the UT Health Science Center (UTHealth) in Houston. Day, who started his new position on July 1, will once again play a supervisory role for students and residents.
Day’s arrival at UTHealth has stirred up controversy and concern. While some female students, faculty, and employees are outraged at his hiring, UTHealth administration and officials hold steadfast to their decision. Giuseppe Colasurdo, MD, UT medical school dean, and Larry R. Kaiser, president of UTHealth both publicly expressed support for Day.
Tuli stated that Day repeatedly ridiculed and intimidated her. She claimed that Day made racist comments to her and sexist statements as well, such as, “You are just a girl, are you sure you can do that?” during surgery, while frequently referring to his female colleagues as “girls.” Once at a hospital dinner he requested that Tuli “get up on the table and dance for us to show the female residents how to behave.”
In sworn affidavits that supported Tuli’s case, department staff alleged that Day once pointed at the belly of a pregnant staffer and said, “We know what you’re doing at night” and also told a female employee who was counting money, “Sugar, I told you that you don’t have to pay for what I do for you.” He was also notorious for displaying an 8-inch phallic statue on his desk, and once downloaded sexually explicit images onto a nurse’s PDA.
From: http://blog.ebosswatch.com
A seven-week trial by jury found Brigham and Women’s and Day responsible for creating a severe hostile work environment that was motivated in part by Tuli’s gender and/or national origin (she was born in India). Day, who has had three gender bias cases brought against him in the recent past, including Tuli’s, resigned from his Harvard post in December 2009.
Now, less than a year after Day’s resignation, the University of Texas (UT) has hired and appointed him as residency program director and vice chair for education at the UT medical school’s neurosurgery department at the UT Health Science Center (UTHealth) in Houston. Day, who started his new position on July 1, will once again play a supervisory role for students and residents.
Day’s arrival at UTHealth has stirred up controversy and concern. While some female students, faculty, and employees are outraged at his hiring, UTHealth administration and officials hold steadfast to their decision. Giuseppe Colasurdo, MD, UT medical school dean, and Larry R. Kaiser, president of UTHealth both publicly expressed support for Day.
Tuli stated that Day repeatedly ridiculed and intimidated her. She claimed that Day made racist comments to her and sexist statements as well, such as, “You are just a girl, are you sure you can do that?” during surgery, while frequently referring to his female colleagues as “girls.” Once at a hospital dinner he requested that Tuli “get up on the table and dance for us to show the female residents how to behave.”
In sworn affidavits that supported Tuli’s case, department staff alleged that Day once pointed at the belly of a pregnant staffer and said, “We know what you’re doing at night” and also told a female employee who was counting money, “Sugar, I told you that you don’t have to pay for what I do for you.” He was also notorious for displaying an 8-inch phallic statue on his desk, and once downloaded sexually explicit images onto a nurse’s PDA.
From: http://blog.ebosswatch.com
Teachers unhappy with Glendale investigation
A report that dismissed 17 allegations of harassment by a Madison principal towards teachers and other staff failed to actually address charges of bullying, according to a response issued late Friday through Madison Teachers Inc.
The response says that the district's management "has elected to do nothing to support those Glendale staff who have been bullied by Principal (Mickey) Buhl." It also states that some staff members "have been living in fear of Mr. Buhl for 5+ years." In additional comments in the responsde, teachers say that Buhl's behavior towards some staff members "fostered fear and anxiety in the workplace. We finally came forward, even at the risk of exposing ouselves to further vindictive and very hurtful behavior."
I wrote about the release of the report and some background information surrounding the investigation last week, including a link to the full report. The full text of the teachers' response to that report accompanies this story.
In the MTI response, staff members note they were "extremely disappointed with the outcome of the investigation by the attorney retained by the District."
The original report, completed on Nov. 19, was released through an open records request by The Capital Times and others last week, and covered the results of a two-month long investigation by attorney Shana Lewis of local law firm, Ross and Clark. The firm had been hired by the Madison school district to independently assess alleged issues of workplace harassment and bullying by Buhl.
Basically, the Lewis report exonerates Buhl of any formal harassment. But what clearly emerges from detailed comments and interviews in the report, and from the teacher response, is a portrait of a school with a divided staff and a troubled work environment.
Staff members allege they have gotten little to no response regarding their concerns from administration or the Board of Education, but have requested a private meeting with school board members to address what they say are inaccuracies and ommissions in Lewis' report.
"People who were affected (by the report) didn't feel it brought out the full picture of what's been going on at Glendale," said Eve Degen, assistant director of Madison Teachers Inc. in a short phone interview on Monday.
"It's been a very difficult time for the staff at Glendale. This is not something that started two weeks ago, or two months ago or two years ago," she added.
Matt Bell, an attorney for the district, said there would be no comments beyond the release of the report because it has to do with personnel issues.
From: http://host.madison.com
The response says that the district's management "has elected to do nothing to support those Glendale staff who have been bullied by Principal (Mickey) Buhl." It also states that some staff members "have been living in fear of Mr. Buhl for 5+ years." In additional comments in the responsde, teachers say that Buhl's behavior towards some staff members "fostered fear and anxiety in the workplace. We finally came forward, even at the risk of exposing ouselves to further vindictive and very hurtful behavior."
I wrote about the release of the report and some background information surrounding the investigation last week, including a link to the full report. The full text of the teachers' response to that report accompanies this story.
In the MTI response, staff members note they were "extremely disappointed with the outcome of the investigation by the attorney retained by the District."
The original report, completed on Nov. 19, was released through an open records request by The Capital Times and others last week, and covered the results of a two-month long investigation by attorney Shana Lewis of local law firm, Ross and Clark. The firm had been hired by the Madison school district to independently assess alleged issues of workplace harassment and bullying by Buhl.
Basically, the Lewis report exonerates Buhl of any formal harassment. But what clearly emerges from detailed comments and interviews in the report, and from the teacher response, is a portrait of a school with a divided staff and a troubled work environment.
Staff members allege they have gotten little to no response regarding their concerns from administration or the Board of Education, but have requested a private meeting with school board members to address what they say are inaccuracies and ommissions in Lewis' report.
"People who were affected (by the report) didn't feel it brought out the full picture of what's been going on at Glendale," said Eve Degen, assistant director of Madison Teachers Inc. in a short phone interview on Monday.
"It's been a very difficult time for the staff at Glendale. This is not something that started two weeks ago, or two months ago or two years ago," she added.
Matt Bell, an attorney for the district, said there would be no comments beyond the release of the report because it has to do with personnel issues.
From: http://host.madison.com
December 16, 2010
Faculty Experiences with Bullying in Higher Education - Causes, Consequences, and Management
...While academics have paid little systematic empirical research attention to bullying in academic settings, this has not been the case in several popular online outlets and more traditional trade publications. For example, http://bulliedacademics.blogspot.com and www.mobbingportal. com/index.html represent some online destinations. In terms of a respected “industry” publication, the Chronicle of Higher Education has published numerous articles recently on the hostility and mistreatment that occurs on campuses (e.g., Fogg, 2008; Gravois, 2006). This suggests that academic settings are worthy and in need of concerted attention by researchers in workplace aggression and bullying...
...When bullying/mobbing occurs, it tends to be long-standing. McKay et al. (2008) found that 21% of their sample reported bullying that had persisted for more than five years in duration. In our 2008 study, 32% of the overall sample (faculty, staff, administrators, etc.) reported bullying lasting for more than three years. This percentage increased to 49% when we focused on faculty. It may be that academia is a particularly vulnerable setting for such persistent aggression as a result of tenure, which has faculty and some staff in very long-term relationships with one another. Both conflict (Holton, 1998) and aggression (Jawahar, 2002) research note that the longer and more interactive the relationship, the greater the opportunity for conflict and potential for aggression. Further, while ensuring a “job for life,” tenure may also restrict mobility so that once a situation goes bad, there are few options for leaving. Zapf and Gross (2001) observed that the number of actors was linked to the duration of bullying. They found that the more people who joined in the situation, the longer it went on, concluding that it may become increasingly difficult for witnesses/bystanders to remain neutral as bullying proceeds and intensifies...
...While injustice perceptions are common in all work settings, institutions of higher education may present numerous (sometimes unique) opportunities for such perceptions by faculty. For example, student evaluations of instruction are used in many important faculty personnel decisions such as discretionary salary increases, promotions, and reappointment and tenure decisions. Research clearly demonstrates that the content of the course, and “tough” grading, can adversely impact student ratings of teacher performance—leading to stress and frustration (which we discuss below), especially among junior (untenured) faculty. To combat this problem, some faculty may resort to grade inflation as a way of improving their own student evaluations—which, by the way, is often resented by other faculty members. This problem may differ according to academic disciplines and across academic departments. Faculty members are also evaluated using 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 for making such evaluations. 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 process used to determine those outcomes (Greenberg & Colquitt, 2005)...
...Finally, the mechanisms available in higher education institutions may not be appropriately suited for helping faculty deal with these tensions due to their highly formalized structure and limited mandate (Leal, 1995). For example, in the United States and Canada, unions are designed to handle issues between faculty and the administration. They are not set up to handle member-on-member issues. Also, faculty members are less inclined to utilize these formal mechanisms because they take control of the situation out of faculty hands and into those of administration, impinging on the sacred value of autonomy...
Keashly, Loraleigh; Neuman, Joel H.(2010). Faculty Experiences with Bullying in Higher Education - Causes, Consequences, and Management. Administrative Theory & Praxis, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p48-70
December 11, 2010
What to do now?
I am a single white tenured male who is being bullied in a primarily all female department. I am a full professor, have a new book coming out next week, however have been called in my dean's office along with another female colleague of 3 years (I have been here 15 years) and had my course schedule changed to work primarily with freshmen... an insult in many cases. Today we did course evaluations and a student came to me and told me that both my dean and the other colleague had pulled them aside a told him to be certain about his narrative answers on the evaluations. He came to me with a "heads up" and told me he did not know what was going on, but I needed to look over my shoulder because he felt someone was out to get me. This guy is 40 years old and former military. So what do I do now?
Signed,
Confused and Angry
Signed,
Confused and Angry
December 06, 2010
Get serious University of Virginia!
There’s even more to the Univ. Virginia tale. A couple of years ago, UVa recruited WBI (and others with extensive experience with university communities as well as being researchers and consultants, in other words, heavyweights in the field) to come to campus. UVa instead brought in a “motivational” speaker. At WBI, we pass on several on-site speeches when employers resist creating a solution for the problem that prompted the request in the first place. The result at UVa was that nothing was done after the speech. The former President’s office was not engaged in discussions about bullying, and possibly the specific Kevin Morrissey complaints. If something had been in place, Morrissey would not have had to resort to pleading with HR and the other institutional helpers as his phone records indicated was done. HR may be implicated in Morrissey’s death. And the feel-good motivational speaker actually encouraged this negligent employer to believe that it had adequately addressed bullying on campus with a speech alone! Get serious UVa. What will it take to get American employers to stop the carnage within the ranks?
From: http://www.workplacebullying.org
Also: UVa Report after Morrissey suicide – No negatives for boss Genoways
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