Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said that there was often a perception of perpetrators being “untouchable”.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said that there was often a perception of perpetrators being ‘untouchable’ CREDIT: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Universities let academics with “intellect and star quality” get away with “endemic” sexual assault, a report has concluded.
The University and College Union (UCU) surveyed nearly 4,000 university and college staff and published its findings today, in what it hailed as a “groundbreaking report” which highlighted a “culture of protecting predators” which can “ruin careers and ruin lives”.
It found that sexual violence is “endemic” at universities, with one in 10 staff assaulted at work but only half reporting incidents over the past five years. It also found that 12 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men had directly experienced workplace sexual violence.
Of them, 52 per cent did not disclose or report it to their employer and 70 per cent experienced sexual violence as an ongoing pattern of behaviour rather than a one-off incident.
Power imbalance
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said that there was often a perception of perpetrators being “untouchable”. “This is one of the more widespread components of sexual violence, harassment and bullying.
“Often there’s power imbalance between perpetrators and predators [and their victims] and intellect and star quality are used as reasons to allow them to maintain positions of responsibility.”
She added that there are “many promising young women whose careers are “completely ruined by predatory male academics who have been protected” and that they “either stay in their roles or go on elsewhere and potentially terrorise a whole new group of people over years”.
The UCU general secretary said that “there is a culture of protecting predators” because often they “bring in big research money and get those research grants and publications”.
Those on non-permanent contracts at higher risk
“Sexual violence is commonplace and current responses are simply inadequate. It’s widespread in terms of education and its networks – for example, conferences – and failures to tackle the prevalence, scale and harm of it,” she concluded.
The UCU report also found that staff on non-permanent contracts were 1.3 times as likely to experience direct sexual violence than those in permanent roles, while workers who are trans and non-binary were at higher risk of directly experiencing sexual violence (1.3 times as likely).
In UK universities alone, almost 100,000 academic and academic-related staff are on these insecure contracts.
The study also discovered that staff with disabilities were twice as likely to experience direct sexual violence years as non-disabled staff, and workers with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual were almost twice as likely to directly experience sexual violence than their heterosexual peers.
‘Oh, that’s just the boys’
Survivors of sexual violence gave evidence to the report. One survivor noted: “His boss said it was ‘just the way he was’ without ever taking action”, while another said: “The senior managers were aware, encouraged it, laughed at it and made it ‘ok’ and ‘acceptable’ […], ‘oh, that’s just the boys’ or ‘that’s just [person’s name]’.”
Another added: “I didn’t report the incident. This was a member of the senior leadership team with a reputation of being untouchable due his charm and charisma […]. I wish it was a more supportive environment where I felt I could have raised it.’”
The UCU makes a number of recommendations for employers to implement, including abandoning the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with perpetrators, disclosing outcomes of complaints to survivors, and including information about disciplinary proceedings in references provided for perpetrators.
It also called for universities and colleges to provide counselling for employees who complain about sexual violence and those who act as representatives in sexual violence cases in the workplace.
I always find it weird that anyone would think a university is capable of carrying out investigations of crimes committed by pupils or staff. On rape you should definitely be relying on the police, if they had the skill-set to carry out a proper investigation, as they have the investigatory powers.
The headline figures fall victim to the actions having varied definitions. However it may be worth pointing out that the sexual violence described may be *less* prevalent in University environments compared with other sectors.
Very worrying that cases seem to be covered up based on perceived seniority and value, though.
Universities are more interested in upholding their perceived reputation than helping these victims. I knew a PhD student at a Russell Group uni whose supervisor would repeatedly send unwanted text messages asking her out on dates and saying she looked beautiful or that he was thinking of her and wishing she’d come over to his house etc. She tried to show them to some female lecturers in her department to seek help – one told her she was lying and refused to look at the messages, the other told her she should “‘be flattered and take the attention as a compliment”. She spent >1 yr trying to get help from her uni, who fobbed her off saying they didn’t have a procedure in place for this kind of situation so couldn’t take any action, and were far more interested in keeping her quiet and not going public. Was only an acquaintance so don’t know what happened to her, but I hope she was able to at least switch supervisor and finish her PhD.
The recommendation to end NDAs is especially good to see. Those are used to abuse staff who whistleblow too.
I don’t think it’s limited to sexual assault. Universities are willing to let senior academics get away with pretty much anything as long as they produce high-impact publications, get good research assessment ratings and – most importantly – bring in lots of grant money.
I think, in general, younger academics are much more professional and less prone to terrible behaviour than their older counterparts, but it’s certainly not a problem that has gone away.
It’s the same problem that exists with CEOs and senior management in business. There’s a conflict of interest between the business’ need to make money and their moral and legal duty to protect their staff. Much too often, the businesses and universities come down on the side of money. There needs to be a rebalancing of incentives.
A perfect example of the old adage that HR isn’t there for you, it’s there for the company…or in this case, university.
It also doesn’t help that most have their own legal establishment in statute.
When I worked at a university in the it dept , we were transferring a lecturers old hdd contents to a new computer and encountered what I can only describe as a directory full of different ladies names and videos from
Web cam chats if each girl including the lecturer himself pleasuring himself in a video. We reported this to the dean , he apparently claimed it was research and they did nothing, at the time we thought he it was insane since he was clearly wrong. We never dealt with that guys computer again , refusing to deal with the member of staff.
Yup, could’ve told you this. Didn’t go to uni in the UK but it’s the same everywhere. Universities care more about high-impact publications and rankings than about the safety of students and staff.
I work in a Uni. I know of at least one senior academic who is a serial bully.
Universities are run like businesses and they care more about money and appearance than anything else these days. They are no longer the hallowed halls of learning they were years ago, if you cannot make money or bring prestige then you are barely an afterthought. Good luck getting any help should anything bad happen to you, it doesn’t even have to be sexual assault.
It’s not just academics. I work at one as an administrator and my colleague was sexually assaulted by a senior member of staff and the entire process was a farce. She gave a statement which was then shared with him, allowing him to pre-prepare a statement before his interview. Who the fuck does that? Myself and another colleague both gave interviews backing up what we saw/knew and though the case was pretty damning (if I say so myself), he was let off scot free. I think he got a week paid off work while they made a decision which is a bonus if anything. Fucking joke.
12 comments
By
Gabriella Swerling,
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS EDITOR
22 December 2021 • 6:00am
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said that there was often a perception of perpetrators being “untouchable”.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said that there was often a perception of perpetrators being ‘untouchable’ CREDIT: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Universities let academics with “intellect and star quality” get away with “endemic” sexual assault, a report has concluded.
The University and College Union (UCU) surveyed nearly 4,000 university and college staff and published its findings today, in what it hailed as a “groundbreaking report” which highlighted a “culture of protecting predators” which can “ruin careers and ruin lives”.
It found that sexual violence is “endemic” at universities, with one in 10 staff assaulted at work but only half reporting incidents over the past five years. It also found that 12 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men had directly experienced workplace sexual violence.
Of them, 52 per cent did not disclose or report it to their employer and 70 per cent experienced sexual violence as an ongoing pattern of behaviour rather than a one-off incident.
Power imbalance
Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said that there was often a perception of perpetrators being “untouchable”. “This is one of the more widespread components of sexual violence, harassment and bullying.
“Often there’s power imbalance between perpetrators and predators [and their victims] and intellect and star quality are used as reasons to allow them to maintain positions of responsibility.”
She added that there are “many promising young women whose careers are “completely ruined by predatory male academics who have been protected” and that they “either stay in their roles or go on elsewhere and potentially terrorise a whole new group of people over years”.
The UCU general secretary said that “there is a culture of protecting predators” because often they “bring in big research money and get those research grants and publications”.
Those on non-permanent contracts at higher risk
“Sexual violence is commonplace and current responses are simply inadequate. It’s widespread in terms of education and its networks – for example, conferences – and failures to tackle the prevalence, scale and harm of it,” she concluded.
The UCU report also found that staff on non-permanent contracts were 1.3 times as likely to experience direct sexual violence than those in permanent roles, while workers who are trans and non-binary were at higher risk of directly experiencing sexual violence (1.3 times as likely).
In UK universities alone, almost 100,000 academic and academic-related staff are on these insecure contracts.
The study also discovered that staff with disabilities were twice as likely to experience direct sexual violence years as non-disabled staff, and workers with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual were almost twice as likely to directly experience sexual violence than their heterosexual peers.
‘Oh, that’s just the boys’
Survivors of sexual violence gave evidence to the report. One survivor noted: “His boss said it was ‘just the way he was’ without ever taking action”, while another said: “The senior managers were aware, encouraged it, laughed at it and made it ‘ok’ and ‘acceptable’ […], ‘oh, that’s just the boys’ or ‘that’s just [person’s name]’.”
Another added: “I didn’t report the incident. This was a member of the senior leadership team with a reputation of being untouchable due his charm and charisma […]. I wish it was a more supportive environment where I felt I could have raised it.’”
The UCU makes a number of recommendations for employers to implement, including abandoning the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with perpetrators, disclosing outcomes of complaints to survivors, and including information about disciplinary proceedings in references provided for perpetrators.
It also called for universities and colleges to provide counselling for employees who complain about sexual violence and those who act as representatives in sexual violence cases in the workplace.
I always find it weird that anyone would think a university is capable of carrying out investigations of crimes committed by pupils or staff. On rape you should definitely be relying on the police, if they had the skill-set to carry out a proper investigation, as they have the investigatory powers.
The [report paper](https://ucu.org.uk/media/12269/UCU-sexual-violence-task-group-report-20211220/pdf/UCU_sexual_violence_task_group_report_20211220.pdf) says
* 10% of survey respondents had directly experienced workplace sexual violence in the past
five years
Looking at some other rates quoted online
1. [52% of women surveyed have been victims of unwanted sexual behaviours at work](https://www.safeline.org.uk/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace-is-found-to-affect-over-half-of-uk-women/) .
2. [43% of the population experienced at least one sexual harassment
behaviour in the last 12 months.](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002873/2021-07-12_Sexual_Harassment_Report_FINAL.pdf)
3. [4% of employees said they had been sexually harassed at work over the past three years](https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/harassment/sexual-harassment-work-guide)
The headline figures fall victim to the actions having varied definitions. However it may be worth pointing out that the sexual violence described may be *less* prevalent in University environments compared with other sectors.
Very worrying that cases seem to be covered up based on perceived seniority and value, though.
Universities are more interested in upholding their perceived reputation than helping these victims. I knew a PhD student at a Russell Group uni whose supervisor would repeatedly send unwanted text messages asking her out on dates and saying she looked beautiful or that he was thinking of her and wishing she’d come over to his house etc. She tried to show them to some female lecturers in her department to seek help – one told her she was lying and refused to look at the messages, the other told her she should “‘be flattered and take the attention as a compliment”. She spent >1 yr trying to get help from her uni, who fobbed her off saying they didn’t have a procedure in place for this kind of situation so couldn’t take any action, and were far more interested in keeping her quiet and not going public. Was only an acquaintance so don’t know what happened to her, but I hope she was able to at least switch supervisor and finish her PhD.
The recommendation to end NDAs is especially good to see. Those are used to abuse staff who whistleblow too.
I don’t think it’s limited to sexual assault. Universities are willing to let senior academics get away with pretty much anything as long as they produce high-impact publications, get good research assessment ratings and – most importantly – bring in lots of grant money.
I think, in general, younger academics are much more professional and less prone to terrible behaviour than their older counterparts, but it’s certainly not a problem that has gone away.
It’s the same problem that exists with CEOs and senior management in business. There’s a conflict of interest between the business’ need to make money and their moral and legal duty to protect their staff. Much too often, the businesses and universities come down on the side of money. There needs to be a rebalancing of incentives.
A perfect example of the old adage that HR isn’t there for you, it’s there for the company…or in this case, university.
It also doesn’t help that most have their own legal establishment in statute.
When I worked at a university in the it dept , we were transferring a lecturers old hdd contents to a new computer and encountered what I can only describe as a directory full of different ladies names and videos from
Web cam chats if each girl including the lecturer himself pleasuring himself in a video. We reported this to the dean , he apparently claimed it was research and they did nothing, at the time we thought he it was insane since he was clearly wrong. We never dealt with that guys computer again , refusing to deal with the member of staff.
Yup, could’ve told you this. Didn’t go to uni in the UK but it’s the same everywhere. Universities care more about high-impact publications and rankings than about the safety of students and staff.
I work in a Uni. I know of at least one senior academic who is a serial bully.
Universities are run like businesses and they care more about money and appearance than anything else these days. They are no longer the hallowed halls of learning they were years ago, if you cannot make money or bring prestige then you are barely an afterthought. Good luck getting any help should anything bad happen to you, it doesn’t even have to be sexual assault.
It’s not just academics. I work at one as an administrator and my colleague was sexually assaulted by a senior member of staff and the entire process was a farce. She gave a statement which was then shared with him, allowing him to pre-prepare a statement before his interview. Who the fuck does that? Myself and another colleague both gave interviews backing up what we saw/knew and though the case was pretty damning (if I say so myself), he was let off scot free. I think he got a week paid off work while they made a decision which is a bonus if anything. Fucking joke.