Open letter on bullying sent to senior College members

At 11:25am on 6th October, an open letter went out to President Hugh Brady, Provost Ian Walmsley, and Director of Human Resources Harbhajan Brar, along with at least 138 other people requesting that the President commit that “policies, procedures, and processes [relating to harassment, bullying and victimisation] are ‘absolutely’ followed for all staff and students“.

The staff member in question told Felix that they felt compelled to speak out, describing the bullying and harassment at Imperial College as “endemic” and told Felix: “In my opinion, I’ve seen too much of it”. They said they knew of “lots of people” who had faced difficult working environments. They also said that things had not improved since the publication of the QC report on bullying by senior members of staff at Imperial, which led to then-CFO Muir Sanderson’s resignation and Alice Gast’s apology for her conduct.

Responding to the article published in this issue of Felix, the member of staff expressed surprise and dismay at Hugh Brady’s view that “no big changes” were needed, but hoped that this did not relate to mental health issues.

London regional official for the University College Union (UCU), Barry Jones, said: “UCU members report an endemic culture of bullying at Imperial.”

The Imperial College Union President, Hayley Wong, in response to this open letter said, “We stand in solidarity with all those impacted by the events outlined in the McNiel report. We look forward to working with Professor Brady and the rest of the College in making sure that the right policies and procedures are implemented effectively.”

On Monday, President Brady sent an email to all staff and students, titled “Starting the new term”, in which he reminded staff and students that “support is available … and that it is a sign of strength, not weakness, to ask for help”, reassuring them. They also expressed concern about potential repercussions, joking that they might not be around at the College next week. They have been employed at the College for 25 years.

In the open letter, the staff member quoted a Felix article from 8th October 2021 (c. 1778) in which Felix summarised then-President-elect Hugh Brady’s remarks on a Technical Healing podcast about the unusually high suicide rate at University of Bristol in the years 2016-18, while he was Vice-Chancellor.

The QC Investigation Report was the subject of an FOI request, and a redacted version was published in February 2022 after the ICO commission ruled that it was in the public interest to do so. This ruled that then-President Alice Gast had bullied one person, and with then-CFO Muir Sanderson, had contributed to creating a hostile working environment. Muir Sanderson resigned shortly after the publishing of the report, and Alice Gast continued until the end of her tenure in July 2022.

The open letter alleges that “the Imperial Community were rightly concerned, upset and angered by what had happened”, adding that the “report showed that procedures were not followed”, citing the comments of sexual and racist nature quoted in the report.

According to the staff member, this report was the “consequence of not adhering to College policies, procedures and processes”, and they expressed concern over the mental and physical impact on the victims. They then went on to describe that Mr Brar personally assured the Imperial community that “the College’s policies, procedures and processes were ‘absolutely’ followed in relation to the investigation conducted and also their disciplinaries.”, citing that the College’s full Harassment, Bullying, and Victimisation and Disciplinary Policy “was followed in the investigation”.

The member of staff reminded the President, Provost, and Director of Human Resources that the College has a legal Duty of Care to protect staff and students, and laws, policies, procedures and processes exist to ensure that the people are treated fairly, consistently, and equitably. Finally, they asked that President Brady support the Imperial community by assuring a safe working environment that protects mental health and wellbeing.

As of the time of writing, President Hugh Brady has not yet confirmed the above. On 1st August, President Brady sent an email to all staff and students, titled “Joining Imperial”, in which he stated that he would “want to hear how we can build an even more inclusive, diverse and supportive College community.” In the same email, he thanked Alice Gast for “steering the College through difficult times”. An Imperial College London spokesperson said: “Bullying and harassment are unacceptable and must not be tolerated anywhere within our community. We have strong systems in place to enable this for both our student and staff communities. We will never be complacent and we will continue to listen to our community on this important issue.”

*** This article was amended on 13th October 2022. The open letter to College members was sent at 11:25am on 6th October. An earlier version of the article, which featured in the print edition (Issue 1806), incorrectly stated that the letter went out at 11:25pm.