Discrimination against academics and career implications of student evaluations: university policy versus legal compliance

Abstract

Across the international higher education sector, existing studies highlight that student evaluations of courses and teaching are biased and prejudiced towards academics and can cause mental distress. Yet student evaluation data is often used as part of faculty hiring, firing, promotion, award and grant decisions. That a data source known to be prejudiced and biased is used for employment and career decisions raises questions around whether these university policies are discriminatory towards university staff. This paper investigates these questions via an analysis of: a) what are the common university policies relating to evaluation data collection and its use, b) are these policies leaving academics exposed to discrimination, and c) what types of policies may be leaving universities liable to legal ramifications due to non-compliance with anti-discrimination and workplace health and safety laws? The work demonstrates why most institutions are operating outside the bounds of the law, highlights to academics what types of policies may fail to meet discrimination and workplace laws, and informs university leaders of the actions that may be exposing their universities to legal implications for failing to protect their staff.

Keywords:

• Marginalisation
• evaluations
• comments
• abuse
• legal
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Troy Heffernan

Dr Troy Heffernan is a Fulbright Scholar and Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Education. His research examines higher education administration and policy with a particular focus on investigating the inequities that persist in the sector. Dr Heffernan’s research objective is to support universities as their role in the community continues to grow, and help ensure that diverse and marginalised groups are represented and treated equitably throughout the academy.

Paul Harpur

Associate Professor Dr Paul Harpur is a leading international and comparative disability rights legal academic, current Australian Research Council Future Fellow (project “Normalizing Ability Diversity through Career Transitions: Disability at Work”), an Affiliate, Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and duel Paralympian. He is a TEDx speaker (“Universities as Disability Champions of Change”). He is chair of the University of Queensland Disability Inclusion Group and holds international posts, including as an International Distinguished Fellow, with the Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University, and is a former Fulbright Future Scholar, and Academic Fellow with the Harvard Law School Project on Disability.