Source: University of Canterbury
20 October 2020
The University of Canterbury (UC) affirms its support for “the freedom of academic staff and students, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas, and to state controversial or unpopular opinions,” as specified in the Education Act.
The University of Canterbury (UC) affirms its support for “the freedom of academic staff and students, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas, and to state controversial or unpopular opinions,” as specified in the Education Act. We note that this comes with the requirement for institutions and academics to “maintain the highest ethical standards and… permit public scrutiny to ensure the maintenance of those standards”.
The University of Canterbury is responding to four formal complaints from academic staff at other universities and at UC, challenging the truthfulness of claims in a published article by Professor Brady.
UC is taking these complaints seriously and has initiated an academic review to test the veracity of the claims made in the published article, as reputations of academics are in question.
UC planned to conduct the review in September and Terms of Reference setting out the review parameters were provided to Professor Brady. However, at Professor Brady’s request, UC has postponed the review on multiple occasions to allow her more time to engage with the process. UC will publish a summary of this academic review at its conclusion.
