Gast oversaw ‘favouritism’ and ‘exclusion’ at Imperial – report

Imperial College London president Alice Gast and the institution’s chief financial officer oversaw a culture of “favouritism, exclusion, the making of disparaging comments about others and at times a lack of respect for others”, an independent investigation found.

Imperial confirmed in late 2020 that Professor Gast had been found guilty of bullying a colleague and that Muir Sanderson, the finance chief, bullied two colleagues between February and March that year. The pair faced disciplinary investigations and apologised.

However, the report of Jane McNeill QC had been kept under wraps, until the Information Commissioner’s Office ruled last week that it should be released.

The document, which has now been published by Imperial, finds that Professor Gast “undermine[d]” a colleague “personally and professionally” to the extent that their “self-esteem and self-confidence have been badly affected and [they] has suffered from lack of sleep and weight loss”.

This “adverse and humiliating treatment” included the making of “disrespectful and sometimes unpleasant” comments and the exclusion of the staff member from key parts of their role.

Ms McNeill says that while she did not consider that Professor Gast “set out to bully…she must have known or closed her eyes to the fact that her treatment…would cause…significant humiliation and lack of self-esteem”.

Much of the strongest criticism in the report is reserved, however, for Mr Sanderson, who, Ms McNeill writes, “created or contributed to a culture where aggression and the making of inappropriate and offensive comments is tolerated”.

Mr Sanderson, Ms McNeill writes, “uses language and exhibits behaviours from time to time which are abhorrent in a modern workplace”, including telling a female colleague to “Watch your tone, young lady”, and using the expression “[leaving] the plantation”, comments which the report says “could suggest negative treatment relating to…protected characteristics”.

In relation to both Professor Gast and Mr Sanderson, Ms McNeill writes that several witnesses “described a culture of favouritism: you are ‘in or out’; ‘the favourite child’; ‘a hero or zero’; or in the ‘in gang or out gang’. One witness described that there were a lot of employees at any one time ‘in the rubbish pot’.” The number of witnesses making these comments was “significant”, she writes.

While Ms McNeill did not conclude there was a culture of bullying in Imperial as a whole, she found that at a senior level, there was a “culture of making disparaging comments about, undermining and excluding others”.

There was a culture at the top “where personal likes and dislikes are allowed to interfere with objective decision-making”, Ms McNeill writes, adding: “In short, I consider that [Professor Gast] and [Mr Sanderson] have contributed in their different ways to a culture of bullying.”

Barry Jones, a regional official with the University and College Union, said that it was “shameful” that the pair remained in post. Union members reported an “endemic culture of bullying at Imperial”, he said.

Professor Gast, whose remuneration totalled £519,000 last year, will step down in August at the end of her term. She said that it was “personally devastating for me to find that my behaviour fell short of both the college’s and my own expectations and that it had affected a colleague in this way”. 

“In the two years since these events took place, I have worked hard to ensure that my colleagues feel fully supported as we all contribute to improvements in the college culture,” she said.

Mr Sanderson said the report “makes as uncomfortable reading now as it did in 2020”.

“Since then, I have been trying to learn from the lessons of that period. It is still work in progress but I am always encouraged when someone comments that they can see the results of my efforts. I intend to stay focused on this,” he said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com