UCD president Professor Andrew Deeks has now confirmed that he contacted lecturer and broadcaster Dr Ní Shúilleabháin this evening to personally apologise for the harassment she faced, according to the Irish Times.
In an interview with the paper published on Saturday, Dr Ní Shúilleabháin had spoken at length about her experience with another professor at the university over a two-year period, which continued after she had reported the issue to university authorities.
In a statement earlier on Sunday, Prof Deeks apologised to Dr Ní Shúilleabháin and other colleagues and students who had suffered similar experiences.
I’m very surprised to be reading about an apology from UCD President Andrew Deeks, since I haven’t received one or any communication from him on this matter.
“Bullying, harassment, sexual harassment or sexual misconduct have no place in UCD and we are already working to strengthen our current policies with a number of measures,” he said.
He said the university would adopt “a core procedural shift” in investigating allegations of sexual harassment.
However, Dr Ní Shúilleabháin had earlier tweeted: “I’m very surprised to be reading about an apology from UCD President Andrew Deeks, since I haven’t received one or any communication from him on this matter.”
In her interview with the Irish Times in which Dr Ní Shúilleabháin spoke out about her experience, she said she was frightened of being alone on campus and unnerved almost to the point of abandoning her successful academic career.
1.Sexual harassment in academia is a serious and systemic issue that is too often left unchecked. I spoke with @IrishTimes about my experience of sexual harassment by a colleague @ucddublin
1/n https://t.co/SOryHh47sY— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin 🇺🇦 (@aoibhinn_ni_s) September 5, 2020
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On Twitter she said "Everyone deserves to study or work in a safe environment & we need to have conversations and cultural change in order to properly address this problem.
"We have no concrete statistics on the occurrences of sexual harassment involving staff in third level institutions in Ireland, but internationally studies have found that 58 per cent of women faculty and staff have experienced sexual harassment.”
She added that: "Third level institutions are now working to review and revise their policies & procedures, these should be trauma-informed and person-centred with the wellbeing and safety of the individuals involved of paramount consideration."
