Despite severe financial struggles across the university sector, over two-thirds of vice-chancellors at cash-strapped institutions enjoyed significant pay rises last year. The Mailhas the story.
Of 66 institutions known to be making redundancies or taking cost-cutting measures, 43 gave their vice chancellor a pay bump.
Some were awarded pay package boosts of up to 26%, with many pocketing total deals worth well over £400,000 a year. …
It comes as Universities U.K., which represents vice chancellors, warned finances in the sector had deteriorated “fast” and demanded Government help.
Consultant Public First has called for a £2.5 billion fund to provide state-backed loans for universities to avoid them going under. It warned that ministers must plan for at least one university collapsing. …
In one example, Teesside University announced a “university-wide voluntary severance scheme” earlier this year – but its Vice Chancellor’s total remuneration package rose by 17%, from £312,139 in 2021/22 to £364,305 in 2022/23.
And Professor Adam Habib, President of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) – where 34 English language and study skills support staff are at risk of losing their jobs – received a total package worth £410,061, up from £324,074 – a 26% increase.
Professor Adam Habib (pictured), President of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
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Mogwai
7 months ago
It’s actually best to click the link and read the full article for context because it’s easy to jump to conclusions and minimize this young lady’s experience. I think the thing this guy did wrong, well, after basically singling her out to act in such an inappropriate and unprofessional manner, was to ‘ghost’ her and stop giving her any shifts. When he overheard her on the CCTV confiding in colleagues about how creepy he was being only with her that should’ve been a wake-up call that he was out of order and over stepping the mark as her boss. He should’ve stopped being a sleaze, apologized for his behaviour, which obviously wasn’t welcome and made her feel uncomfortable, then he should’ve went ahead and treat her exactly like her colleagues.
So at first I was like, ”Only in Clown World does somebody think getting an extra 20 quid is harassment”, but there’s much more to it than that. I think the reason, as stated in the article, she went ahead for the sexual harassment claim as opposed to unfair dismissal is that she hadn’t worked there long enough to make a claim for the latter. He’d done it with a previous female staff member but if the staff just up and leave then he’s never going to be held to account and change his behaviour going forward. Well it looks like he might think twice before being a perv with any future staff and abusing his authority, which he obviously enjoyed doing.
I’m not keen on the micro regulation of workplace behaviour but other than leaving to find a job with a better employer I think her options were limited unless she is in a trade union but they probably wouldn’t hold much sway in a small business
I think what she did took guts, more guts than merely leaving and basically allowing him to behave this way continuously with future victims he singles out. By winning her case she’s presumably broken the cycle and the creep will think twice in future. He was blatantly grooming her, telling her to keep the fact he gave her extra cash a secret etc, so I’m very glad she listened to her intuition and didn’t accept any lifts from him. People, females especially, need to listen to their gut instinct ( their lizard brain, in reality ) and if something doesn’t feel right then it usually isn’t. Being all agreeable and thinking something won’t happen to you can be your downfall.
I generally agree and you make some good points. She could have left and left some online reviews calling him out- I like the idea of the market taking care of things like this- but I accept it’s not easy. I don’t think I’ve paid anyone (male or female) at work a compliment about their eyes or anything similar in the 38 years I have been there. I may remark on them looking smart or well but nothing beyond that. I don’t think winking necessarily constitutes inappropriate behaviour but it depends on the context and in this case it’s part of a much wider pattern.
Well look at the title; ”Winking at a female employee can be sexual harassment”, and we are presumably supposed to form a certain opinion based on the insinuation of that sentence. So that’s why I thought I’d beat the resident misogynists and advise people to read the DM article in order to get the bigger picture before making a judgment, seeing as it was a lot more than some over-sensitive snowflake girl taking offense and playing her ”victim card” because her boss winked at her.
The article was almost certainly written by someone who wanted to support the women’s side of the story. Stripped of all the decorations, it’s (almost certainly) “middle-aged married guy making clumsy attempts to flirt with a much younger woman and floundering spectacularly at that”. Which immediately leads to the question: “What did the women do to motivate this guy to make a total ass of himself in such a hopeless and expensive way?”
Viewed objectively, he didn’t do anything justifying actual outrage and she never really told him off, she just made fun of him when she thought he wouldn’t notice because she hadn’t noticed the CCTV camera. She then voluntarily stopped working there “for her exams” and called the guy again afterwards as she wanted to have more shifts. Having finally wised up to the situation and with a bit of distance, he chose to let the matter rest at that. And then, she sued him, ie, not because of what he allegedly did before but because he wasn’t willing to throw more money in her direction.
NB: That’s an attempt to the tell the side of the story the Mail left out based on the facts and some not entirely unlikely conjectures. As I don’t know any of the people, I do not claim that it must be true, just that it could.
I agree the guy is clearly a slime ball and he should have apologised to her once he saw and heard the CCTV, and that would have been that. But no: he was exploiting the very good law which avoids having the judicial system tied up with petty disagreements between employee and employer in the probationary period, during which either side can walk away without having to give any reason or notice. He could have his way with her (or so he thought) then just say she wasn’t very good at her job and that’s that, he would be off scott-free. I am sure he’s tried it (and maybe had it) many times. It’s a kind of justice that this lady frustrated his efforts in the future… I hope.
And I hope Ms Almussawi invests her damages wisely.
I also hope that her win will not make potential employers see her as too big a risk as “a litigious little so and so” and exclude her on that basis alone.
BUT, and it’s a big BUT:
People really need to learn that sticks and stones…. etc. For a woman, this should be to learn how to dismiss cackhanded/sleazy advances. Most guys get it and walk off, tail between their legs.
She was not raped. Not even close. She seemed to deal with him well enough, and although I am not dismissing how stressful it is for many young women who have never had to deal with a lecherous bloke, she should have just left and avoided all the stress of the tribunal. Those waitressing jobs are two a penny.
But like I say, I hope she invests the money wisely. And that he realises what a sleazy twat he probably is.
And it’s probably too late to hope that this won’t open the floodgates to a load of vexatious and horrible accusations by manipulative “victims”, of either sex…
its a joke. And explaining why a joke is a joke is never funny.
I suspect most DS readers understood without having it telegraphed to them.
lynwen
7 months ago
It’s a relief to find the comments align with my views on this story. The tribunal found its way to the right answer in my opinion. Mr Moussa sounds like the kind of dangerous bully that the anti-harrassment laws should be keeping in check.
My wife’s former employer once said to her on the way back from the Bank “Do you fancy a white sheet job?”. She didn’t know what one was, when he told her she laughed and brushed it off. He always wanted a bit of the extra with her. No big deal, he never got it. I wonder how much she could have claimed?
We were talking about wolf whistles and so on the other night as it happens. She used to get the builders at the company whistle her and suggestive comments. It ended when she got older. She was quite flattered when younger and never took it seriously.
Women can be far worse than men. When I was an apprentice the women used to grab and twist everything they could when you were going up a ladder. I found it funny, some guys found it distressing and actually frightening; 50 women in a small section is intimidating.
Where is the line between acceptable and abuse? Today it seems nothing is acceptable from a bloke but a woman, ever seen a gaggle of them on a night out or at a strip show? They are worse than any bunch of guys I ever knew.
Perhaps the difference is in intent? The White Sheet Job was semi-serious (its a quicky in a Hotel), the women grabbing my balls was jokey in intent. This guy, well, he seemed to use it as a weapon and that is very different.
It’s not only women. As far as I can tell, everything is acceptable provided the person who did it wasn’t a heterosexual man, because that’s the only ‘serious’ case, all others are “just fun”. But as someone who has been a target of this from both men and women (men much more frequently, obviously) I can’t help asking “Whose fun?”
Last edited 7 months ago by RW
True Spirit of America Party
7 months ago
The entire concept of sexual harassment has well and truly jumped the shark now.
That said, if you read the FULL story, the guy really was overstepping his bounds, being a creep and in the wrong in this particular case. There is, after all, a little detail called CONTEXT.
Last edited 7 months ago by True Spirit of America Party
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It’s actually best to click the link and read the full article for context because it’s easy to jump to conclusions and minimize this young lady’s experience. I think the thing this guy did wrong, well, after basically singling her out to act in such an inappropriate and unprofessional manner, was to ‘ghost’ her and stop giving her any shifts. When he overheard her on the CCTV confiding in colleagues about how creepy he was being only with her that should’ve been a wake-up call that he was out of order and over stepping the mark as her boss. He should’ve stopped being a sleaze, apologized for his behaviour, which obviously wasn’t welcome and made her feel uncomfortable, then he should’ve went ahead and treat her exactly like her colleagues.
So at first I was like, ”Only in Clown World does somebody think getting an extra 20 quid is harassment”, but there’s much more to it than that. I think the reason, as stated in the article, she went ahead for the sexual harassment claim as opposed to unfair dismissal is that she hadn’t worked there long enough to make a claim for the latter. He’d done it with a previous female staff member but if the staff just up and leave then he’s never going to be held to account and change his behaviour going forward. Well it looks like he might think twice before being a perv with any future staff and abusing his authority, which he obviously enjoyed doing.
She tried both sexual harrasment and unfair dismissal. The latter complaint was dismissed because she hadn’t been working there for long enough.
I concluded just from this article that the guy’s a slimeball.
Me too
I’m not keen on the micro regulation of workplace behaviour but other than leaving to find a job with a better employer I think her options were limited unless she is in a trade union but they probably wouldn’t hold much sway in a small business
I think what she did took guts, more guts than merely leaving and basically allowing him to behave this way continuously with future victims he singles out. By winning her case she’s presumably broken the cycle and the creep will think twice in future. He was blatantly grooming her, telling her to keep the fact he gave her extra cash a secret etc, so I’m very glad she listened to her intuition and didn’t accept any lifts from him. People, females especially, need to listen to their gut instinct ( their lizard brain, in reality ) and if something doesn’t feel right then it usually isn’t. Being all agreeable and thinking something won’t happen to you can be your downfall.
I generally agree and you make some good points. She could have left and left some online reviews calling him out- I like the idea of the market taking care of things like this- but I accept it’s not easy. I don’t think I’ve paid anyone (male or female) at work a compliment about their eyes or anything similar in the 38 years I have been there. I may remark on them looking smart or well but nothing beyond that. I don’t think winking necessarily constitutes inappropriate behaviour but it depends on the context and in this case it’s part of a much wider pattern.
Well-said. The ever-insightful Gavin de Becker would certainly agree with you.
Well look at the title; ”Winking at a female employee can be sexual harassment”, and we are presumably supposed to form a certain opinion based on the insinuation of that sentence. So that’s why I thought I’d beat the resident misogynists and advise people to read the DM article in order to get the bigger picture before making a judgment, seeing as it was a lot more than some over-sensitive snowflake girl taking offense and playing her ”victim card” because her boss winked at her.
The article was almost certainly written by someone who wanted to support the women’s side of the story. Stripped of all the decorations, it’s (almost certainly) “middle-aged married guy making clumsy attempts to flirt with a much younger woman and floundering spectacularly at that”. Which immediately leads to the question: “What did the women do to motivate this guy to make a total ass of himself in such a hopeless and expensive way?”
Viewed objectively, he didn’t do anything justifying actual outrage and she never really told him off, she just made fun of him when she thought he wouldn’t notice because she hadn’t noticed the CCTV camera. She then voluntarily stopped working there “for her exams” and called the guy again afterwards as she wanted to have more shifts. Having finally wised up to the situation and with a bit of distance, he chose to let the matter rest at that. And then, she sued him, ie, not because of what he allegedly did before but because he wasn’t willing to throw more money in her direction.
NB: That’s an attempt to the tell the side of the story the Mail left out based on the facts and some not entirely unlikely conjectures. As I don’t know any of the people, I do not claim that it must be true, just that it could.
Indeed, the clickbait title of this article is extremely misleading.
Sexual harassment like racial discrimination cases have no upper limit on compensation.
I agree the guy is clearly a slime ball and he should have apologised to her once he saw and heard the CCTV, and that would have been that. But no: he was exploiting the very good law which avoids having the judicial system tied up with petty disagreements between employee and employer in the probationary period, during which either side can walk away without having to give any reason or notice. He could have his way with her (or so he thought) then just say she wasn’t very good at her job and that’s that, he would be off scott-free. I am sure he’s tried it (and maybe had it) many times. It’s a kind of justice that this lady frustrated his efforts in the future… I hope.
And I hope Ms Almussawi invests her damages wisely.
I also hope that her win will not make potential employers see her as too big a risk as “a litigious little so and so” and exclude her on that basis alone.
BUT, and it’s a big BUT:
People really need to learn that sticks and stones…. etc. For a woman, this should be to learn how to dismiss cackhanded/sleazy advances. Most guys get it and walk off, tail between their legs.
She was not raped. Not even close. She seemed to deal with him well enough, and although I am not dismissing how stressful it is for many young women who have never had to deal with a lecherous bloke, she should have just left and avoided all the stress of the tribunal. Those waitressing jobs are two a penny.
But like I say, I hope she invests the money wisely. And that he realises what a sleazy twat he probably is.
And it’s probably too late to hope that this won’t open the floodgates to a load of vexatious and horrible accusations by manipulative “victims”, of either sex…
This.
Yes, thank you for pointing out such an important nuance here. Context matters, and they guy was clearly being a creep.
History Debunked: Why are so many older white men angry!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=585JGCCMZBo
Jenna Almussawi? Wejdi Moussa? I bet their ancestors were not at Bannockburn or Culloden.
Maybe if their ancestors had been at Culloden, Jenna and Wejdi wouldn’t have come into existence at all…
Were your ancestors at Stamford Bridge? Or Crecy?
Come on this dude’s obviously Welsh.
What a winker.
Just change one vowel in “winker”, lol.
its a joke. And explaining why a joke is a joke is never funny.
I suspect most DS readers understood without having it telegraphed to them.
It’s a relief to find the comments align with my views on this story. The tribunal found its way to the right answer in my opinion. Mr Moussa sounds like the kind of dangerous bully that the anti-harrassment laws should be keeping in check.
Very true
My wife’s former employer once said to her on the way back from the Bank “Do you fancy a white sheet job?”. She didn’t know what one was, when he told her she laughed and brushed it off. He always wanted a bit of the extra with her. No big deal, he never got it. I wonder how much she could have claimed?
We were talking about wolf whistles and so on the other night as it happens. She used to get the builders at the company whistle her and suggestive comments. It ended when she got older. She was quite flattered when younger and never took it seriously.
Women can be far worse than men. When I was an apprentice the women used to grab and twist everything they could when you were going up a ladder. I found it funny, some guys found it distressing and actually frightening; 50 women in a small section is intimidating.
Where is the line between acceptable and abuse? Today it seems nothing is acceptable from a bloke but a woman, ever seen a gaggle of them on a night out or at a strip show? They are worse than any bunch of guys I ever knew.
Perhaps the difference is in intent? The White Sheet Job was semi-serious (its a quicky in a Hotel), the women grabbing my balls was jokey in intent. This guy, well, he seemed to use it as a weapon and that is very different.
It’s not only women. As far as I can tell, everything is acceptable provided the person who did it wasn’t a heterosexual man, because that’s the only ‘serious’ case, all others are “just fun”. But as someone who has been a target of this from both men and women (men much more frequently, obviously) I can’t help asking “Whose fun?”
The entire concept of sexual harassment has well and truly jumped the shark now.
That said, if you read the FULL story, the guy really was overstepping his bounds, being a creep and in the wrong in this particular case. There is, after all, a little detail called CONTEXT.