Troy Heffernan (La Trobe U) SURVEYED academics on abuse from students in anonymous evaluations of their courses and teaching

He found  “every teaching period where SETs and student comments are collected, is another teaching period where the sector is effectively condoning the abuse of its marginalised academics.”

Dr Heffernan found 59 per cent of participants in his global survey reported abusive comments in student evals, most directed to “marginalised groups within the sector based on gender, sexual identity, ethnicity, language, appearance, or disability.”

Early career academics are the least abused (51 per cent) compared to 67-68 per cent for people in mid and late careers. And there is no discipline divide, all are above 60 per cent, except for health which is 25 per cent.

Dr Heffernan argues institutions, “clearly prioritise the perceived value of data gained from SETs above their academics’ wellbeing and their right to work in an abuse-free environment.”

However this cannot continue, “the university sector’s women academics and those academics from the most underrepresented groups are those subjected to the most abuse, and are also those most negatively impacted by the prejudice nature of student evaluations when it comes to employment and promotion.”

more on SETS: Katharine Gelber (Uni Queensland) and colleagues argue students bring gender based-expectations of behaviour to their evaluations of academics (CMM March 2).