A renowned professor of astrophysics who was a whistleblower in the case of a colleague accused of sexually harassing one of her students has called on universities to do more to improve the safeguarding of students.
Professor Carole Mundell’s actions landed her with a libel action, which was thrown out by a high court judge last year. Welcoming the Guardian’s investigation into sexual harassment in higher education, Mundell said it was time for universities to fulfil their responsibilities to their students, rather than leaving it to complainants and individual whistleblowers to call out alleged bad behaviour.
Mundell, who is professor of extragalactic astronomy and a leading academic in her field, said there was a culture of silence and fear of retaliation in academia which made it hard for people to raise concerns. Women in astrophysics face a particular challenge because there are so few of them – a survey by the International Astronomical Union last year found that 17% of its members were female.
“It can’t keep falling to women to keep calling this out,” said Mundell. “My personal impression is that statistically it is still likely to be a minority problem but the impact can be disproportionately large when it occurs. We need institutions to step up. We need to make our environment safe for our students.”
She intervened after a colleague at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) wrote a reference for another member of the department who was seeking a job elsewhere, but failed to mention that the person he was recommending had been suspended pending an investigation of an allegation of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The man who was the subject of the letter of recommendation denies the allegation, which remains unproven; he resigned from LJMU, which meant the disciplinary process was never completed.
Mundell said she felt obliged to alert the potential employer but as a result found herself facing a libel action from the referee, who claimed his reputation had been damaged by her intervention. “As a whistleblower, one does not take action lightly,” Mundell told the Guardian in her first interview since the libel action was dismissed.
“You think very carefully about the impact of any action you might take, and the impact of not taking it. But when I became aware of the situation, I felt I could not sit idly by and overlook a serious omission, which I believe was unethical, but which I also considered could have compromised the safeguarding of female students in another institution. I felt I had a duty to intervene and did so.”
Sitting in the high court in London, Mr Justice Warby dismissed the libel claim, saying it lacked the supporting evidence to establish serious reputational harm.
Many women are reluctant to complain because of concerns about the possible impact on their academic careers; those who do often find the complaints process arduous and unsupportive, and outcomes can be shrouded in secrecy through the use of non-disclosure agreements and the movement of staff from one institution to another.
“It’s unclear to me why all universities do not have clear and robust processes that they work through to the conclusion,” said Mundell, who now heads the physics department at Bath University but was speaking to the Guardian in a personal capacity. “It’s important to everybody concerned.
“I should never have been in the position of having to be a whistleblower. In my opinion, there is a large variation in the clarity of policies, procedures and their implementation across the sector, and a culture of expediency aggravates the problem. Policies and procedures should be applied equally to all cases.”
Following a freedom of information request from the Guardian, LJMU said there had been fewer than five allegations of sexual harassment from students against staff in the last six years and fewer than five investigations.
A spokesperson for LJMU said the Mundell case related to a private dispute between two individuals. “The court judgment confirmed that there had been no findings in relation to the allegations or the factual background and that the judgment did not involve making any findings or assumptions as to their truth.
“We have robust and well-publicised anti-bullying and harassment, whistleblowing, discipline and grievance procedures in place which ensure that students and staff know how to raise concerns, which can be investigated and addressed promptly and effectively for the benefit of all members of the LJMU community.”
