Disgraced academic investigated over incident with Melbourne Uni student
A former Melbourne University academic who was found by a corruption watchdog to have groped female colleagues while at Adelaide Uni was also investigated over an incident with a female student.
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A leading academic who was found by a corruption watchdog to have groped female colleagues while at Adelaide Uni was also investigated over an incident with a female student at the University of Melbourne in the mid-2000s, it has been confirmed.
Former University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen was found by the South Australian independent Commissioner Against Corruption to have harassed female staff and repeated lied about it.
Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell did not name Professor Rathjen but said on Thursday that a former employee was investigated and that a report was provided to the SA inquiry.
“I can confirm that the university co-operated with the ICAC investigation, including providing a report of an independent investigation in 2019 into an incident that occurred when that senior leader was at this University,’’ Professor Maskell said in an email to staff.
Prof Rathjen, 56, was a senior academic at Melbourne between 2006 and 2011, rising to the position of deputy vice-chancellor (research) before leaving for the University of Tasmania.
Prof Maskell said Melbourne Uni had practices and policies to deal with sexual assault and harassment.
“But I am committing this university to examining the recommendations in the ICAC report to ensure that we make improvements to our procedures wherever necessary.
“I remain determined to stamp out sexual assault and harassment, which have no place in a decent society and will not be tolerated in our university community.’’
The SA commissioner Bruce Lander issued a statement about what he called Prof Rathjen’s “egregious disrespect” and “serious misconduct”.
Now staff at Adelaide have called for an inquiry into how prof Rathjen was appointed and why he reportedly received a secret payout of more than $1 million.