Professor seeks $1.8m compo

A University of Waikato professor is seeking $1.8 million in compensation from his employer who he claims did nothing when he was being bullied online by students.

Professor Simon Spacey took the complaint to the Employment Relations Authority where he outlined other complaints against the university, including his employer failing to provide career advancement information, said it reinterpreted intellectual property rules, complained it switched teaching subjects, whether the standard used to assess his performance was different to other staff members and his workload.

A university spokesperson said ‘‘employment matters are confidential between the employer and employee’’. ‘‘However it has had a bullying and harassment policy in place for some years, and considerable time was spent investigating the allegations of cyber-bullying raised by Dr Spacey. No evidence was found of university staff being involved and the university is unsure why Dr Spacey continues to think the attacks were supported by staff.’’

The university believes that it has provided Spacey with support.

The bullying included students making a derogatory webpage using an image of Spacey, striking up a conversation about him on social media as well as emails he received which referred to him in derogatory terms.

The ERA made a preliminary decision on the parameters of the case. They narrowed it down to three issues: cyber bullying, alleged failure by the university to provide advancement information and whether the standard used to assess Spacey’s performance was different to that applied to others.

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