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Language of power is focus in legal action over sackings
3 September 2009
Professors who taught dying tongue say university 'fabricated' claims. Melanie Newman reports
Three academics who were sacked by a Japanese university on charges of "academic harassment" have claimed that they were ousted for attempting to teach an indigenous language.
The professors of educational linguistics, who have asked not to be named, are bringing legal action against Hokkaido University of Education after being fired by the institution in February.
Academic harassment - a relatively new concept in Japan - is defined as the abuse of power of one's academic position.
The university has accused the academics of "violating the human rights of the students under their supervision" by forcing them to work on an "extraordinary volume of assignments" for their own research purposes.
As a result, nine students suffered physical or psychological problems including hallucinations, the institution claimed.
Reports in the Japanese media have highlighted the fact that the three staff had chosen the indigenous language of Ainu as a theme for collaborative research for students majoring in English-language education.
The Ainu people are indigenous to northern Japan, where Hokkaido University is situated.
Historically marginalised, their language is now on the verge of extinction.
Recommendations made recently by a government committee to tackle discrimination of the Ainu people have been opposed by some conservative groups in Japan, which fear that the measures proposed could open the door to land claims and affirmative action.
At the time of their sacking, the three Hokkaido professors were teaching Ainu courses, with the approval of the university, and developing Japanese-Ainu dictionaries.
In 2007, two of the professors started constructing a database of books written in Ainu held by Japanese libraries, enlisting the help of student volunteers.
The professors said that while it was true that some students made complaints, the university "exploited these complaints and fabricated a story about harassment".
In a statement to Times Higher Education, they say the university accused them of "creating a cult group and engaging in mind control of the students".
The professors allege that their department head was told by a senior manager to stop them from teaching Ainu, a claim denied by the university.
After they were removed from their jobs, the Ainu language and culture classes they taught were scrapped, the professors say, adding that Japanese-Ainu dual-language signposts within the university have been taken down.
Yoshiya Goto, the university's executive director, denied that the teaching of the Ainu language had played any part in their dismissal and reiterated the allegation that the professors had "abused students' human rights".
He said: "Our resolution was not arbitrary but was based on a thorough investigation and followed the appropriate procedures. Their complaint is therefore entirely false."
He added that the professors had applied for an injunction against their dismissal at the Sapporo District Court, but their attempt had failed.
melanie.newman@tsleducation.com.
Readers' comments
Liverpool John Moores University punished a leading professor (El-Sayed MS) because he made revelations about plagiarism and research data fabrications. He was suspended in 2003 bending investigation for three years, he was made very ill, then subjected to the most crul-inhumane disciplinary procedures and he was sacked in 2007. Ironically, Liverpool John Moores University is a leading UK university in teaching quality (24/24) and research (RAE 5*)!
@Victim of Corruption: Sad what you report. However, that Liverpool John Moores is a leading UK university is not ironic... It's not true! What rankings have you been reading?
The fact that all the Japanese-Ainu dual-language signposts have been removed is a very clear indication of the university's motives. This is not how modern nations tackle discrimination, societies such as Japan should be well past "sweeping it under the carpet". Look at recent actions taken by the Canadian and Australian government regarding their indigenous peoples. Japanese people should take notice and decide as a nation whether this is how the world should see their country. It certainly lowers my view of Japan... I hope this continues to gain international awareness. Best of luck to those professors in their fight.
Mr Peter Williams; Chief Excuative of QAA opinion to IUSS Select Committee stated that "The destruction or serious dilution of institutional autonomy would be an act of cultural vandalism similar to book burning." How about Shools within new Universities awarded the highest RAE rating and the highest Teaching Quality rating while plagiarism and research data fabrication are common practice and widespread" Isn't this a serious vandalism of the reputation of the British higher education nationally and internationally? What did QAA and HEFCE do when compelling evidence of plagiarism were exposed to the IUSS Select Committee at Liverpool John Moores University. The quangos (QAA and HEFCE) refused to investigate and brushed the issue under the carpet. Isn't this first class vandalism which can logically be extended to checking the cleanliness of the toilets! It was reported in On 18 June 2009 Melanie Newman reported (direct quotation): "Terms of academic's compromise agreement halt QAA and HEFCE queries. Melanie Newman reports. Compromise agreements that gag departing academics may be impairing investigations into allegations of poor academic standards. An academic who said he was dismissed after making allegations of plagiarism has stated that the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) told him it could not investigate because he had signed an agreement. Legal advice obtained by the Higher Education Funding Council for England suggested that he could be sued for breaching the agreement if he disclosed information covered by it. Mahmoud El-Sayed, formerly a professor in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University, was dismissed in 2007. He sued for unfair dismissal and signed a compromise agreement in an out-of-court settlement. In evidence to the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee, he said he had repeatedly raised concerns about plagiarism. He has been pushing the QAA and Hefce to investigate. Following a telephone call to Hefce last July, he received an email from the head of assurance at Hefce, who said the QAA would decide how to respond. Almost a year later, a QAA spokeswoman told him in another email that it was not able to investigate the allegations "because of the existence of a compromise agreement". Only after the professor had given evidence to the select committee had Hefce been in a position to ask the QAA to investigate further, she said. Professor El-Sayed said that earlier this year, John Selby, Hefce's director of education and participation, told him that the funding council had written to Liverpool John Moores. Dr Selby said: "We made it clear in the letter that we recognised that they, like you, are bound by the confidentiality clauses in your compromise agreement and made clear that we were not asking them to breach them." He also said that Hefce was unable to intervene in employment cases, prompting Adrian Jones, former University and College Union official for Liverpool, to claim that an "invisible wall" was blocking any investigation of allegations of mismanagement. Professor El-Sayed said that he had never asked HEFCE to intervene in his own employment case or to breach the compromise agreement. Dr Selby said that the evidence did not back up the allegations of widespread plagiarism at Liverpool John Moores or the claim that the university had covered anything up. How did he know? "Both Professor El-Sayed and the university are bound by a compromise agreement, and we have throughout been very clear that we could not ask Professor El-Sayed to breach the agreement," Dr Selby said. Hefce's governing code says that its assurance service must have unrestricted access to information including records, assets, personnel and premises. A spokesman said: "In Professor El-Sayed's case we took legal advice, which was that any disclosure in this case would not be protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act and would leave the discloser open to proceedings against him." Isn't this a first class vandalism? Isn't this a first class cover up? Does Mr Peter Williams know what have happened to Professor El-Sayed after his revelations about plagiarism at LJMU? Please read Professor El-Sayed's written evidence submitted and accepted by the Committee and recently published by the House of Commons. It is a farce! It is a crime against the British higher education.
This just makes me so angry.
This article mixes up the "Hokkaido University of Education" and "Hokkaido University". These are different institutions at different locations. This sad incident occured at the Hokkaido University of Education (Asahikawa) and not at Hokkaido University (Sapporo). It seems that the teachers indeed used the manpower of their students in English seminars to produce materials for their own Ainu research. If so, it was a stupid (or at least imprudent) thing to do but hopefully the trial brings out the full truth. The sad thing is that whoever has done worse, the professor or the university, the real losers are the Ainu language and people.