Open universities uphold the right to speak and to know — in order to support involvement in governance and accountability of management. The Freedom of Information Act (2000) provides access to information held by your University. This might include grievance data, use of non-disclosure agreements, sexual harassment statistics, retention numbers, Read more…
‘Mr Bates and the Post Office’ has been a harrowing TV series on the abuse of power, as hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters were wrongly sent to prison for theft. This is despite the Post Office middle and senior management knowing of systematic flaws in the computerised accounting system. The substance Read more…
Here is a Youtube video in which no-one is allowed to comment or downvote. It introduces Cambridge University’s “Dignity at Work” policy. We are assured, “There is no place for bullying, harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct, or victimisation in our community.” It has a total of 8 upvotes after 5 months, Read more…
Below is the pdf of a talk about Bullying in Academia given to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey group. It contains a summary of the work of the 21 Group in the wider context of bullying, harassment and discrimination in academia.
In a recent post, we tackled the myth that bullying is necessary to drive academic staff performance. In fact, the data suggest the exact opposite. Institutions with a historical record of bullying performed more poorly in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise. Those with good management cultures performed much Read more…
It is a simple story. Even today, there is a widespread fallacy, in particular among leading universities & their administrators, that bullying is the unfortunate price to be paid for achieving and maintaining top performance. Overbearing heads of department justify their behaviour as a part of their university’s success, without which its top Read more…
Please help us improve UK universities & follow us on Twitter/X at @21percent-org. Our favourite response so far is from @glasgit It’s so good hearing you say it like it is. Please keep going. Don’t give up. You’ll be targeted so much now. Keep going. X
The international science journal Nature reports the launch of the 21 Group here The fight to end bullying in academia: UK researchers launch nationwide campaign Representatives from several UK universities have set up a dedicated advocacy group to which targets of bullying can go for support. The 21 Group are Read more…
It is our birthday! News article in The Times Higher Educational Supplement marks the launch of the 21 Group. Bullies in universities inflict irreparable mental harm, all the while evading any form of accountability for their actions due to the casual acceptance of bullying by those in charge of UK Read more…
The 21 Group was reassured by the following words from the first annual address of the new Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, Prof Debbie Prentice, on October 2nd, “Much of the work of the university this year will focus on people, for people are at the heart of everything we do. People are the means Read more…