Academics and staff at UK universities have called for the establishment of an independent ombudsman that staff in academia could turn to if they feel their organisation is not taking allegations of bullying and harassment seriously.
The 21 Group, a campaign group founded at the University of Cambridge to provide a network and support group for staff who have experienced bullying, harassment and discrimination in their academic careers, wants to see more work to address bullying and harassment in the UK’s higher education sector.
The group’s name derives from a staff survey which found 21% of employees at the University of Cambridge have experienced bullying or harassment at work.
Bullying at work
The 21 Group has two main campaigns: to gather broader data on bullying at UK universities, including complaints received and investigations carried out, via a national survey; and to advocate for an independent ombudsman to give staff somewhere to turn to if they feel their university has handled their bullying complaint badly.
Such a body exists for undergraduate students, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, but not for others at universities.
The group’s website says: “Just as the Financial Conduct Authority is independent yet funded by fees from the regulated banks, so universities should be required to fund a University Ombudsman Service — a panel of external investigators and adjudicators.
“All complaints by staff and postgraduate students should be reported to the University Ombudsman Service so that statistics can be monitored. The university is then given four months to resolve the matter. At the end of this, if the matter is still not fixed, then an independent Ombudsman takes over the investigation. This prevents the common problem of universities prolonging investigations for many months and years. It provides an incentive to sort matters out quickly.”
Wyn Evans, the group’s founder and an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, told Nature: “We’ve become increasingly concerned about the prevalence of bullying in UK universities, and the fact that most universities seem to accept a very high level of bullying.”
The group’s website says: “Surveys routinely show bullying and harassment is rife in UK universities. But bullies are routinely exonerated by universities. Even if the bullying is so extreme that it imperils health and safety, then the behaviour is explained away as ‘ill-judged’ or ‘unbecoming’.
“Too many universities prefer slogans to action, prefer tweets about ‘people strategies’ to safeguarding. Anti-bullying is not – and never should be – a fluffy and meaningless public relations strategy.”
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