Dear University of Auckland,

In light of recent media coverage surrounding the university’s handling of complaints raised against staff, I am requesting the documentation used within the university when handling complaints against other staff. In particular, I am referring to complaints relating to staff (mis)conduct rather than academic concerns.

I note that the university has substantial information about the academic disputes and complaints process on its website, but there is very limited information about misconduct complaints.

I also have noticed that on the “general misconduct complaints” page, this is the opening paragraph:

“What is a general misconduct complaint?
A general (non-academic) misconduct complaint involves reporting concerning behaviour by another student, particularly if they are perceived as bullying, threatening, intimidating, or acting unfairly toward you or someone else. If you feel victimised or threatened by another student's actions, you can make a complaint and/or seek support.”

This page is clearly about concerning student behaviour, with no mention of concerns about staff behaviour.

The student complaint flowchart advises the student to fill out the: “Report a Student Concern or Complaint, or Request Special Consideration” form. After being redirected to the page with this form, I noticed that it specifically states to “Use this form to report a complaint, incident or concern involving a student”, with no mention of whether this form is appropriate for a complaint against staff. The student complaint flowchart also advises when a formal process is initiated, there is an “investigation following relevant student or staff disciplinary policies/statutes”. The online pages relating to staff disciplinary processes do not, however, provide adequate information about the investigation processes (e.g. investigator assignment, natural justice, evidential assessment, complainant protection, etc.) and appear to be more focused on conduct of concern that has been identified by the staff members manager.

These are the only pages I was able to find on the university website related to the handling of staff misconduct. If this information is available, I would appreciate if you could provide a link for this along with the documentation I am requesting.

I am requesting internal documentation or extracts from documents that are used/followed when handling complaints about staff misconduct, including (but not limited to) guidance documents, statements, policies, procedures, and templates.

In particular, I am interested in the following:

Assessment, Scope, and Escalation Processes
- How concerns or complaints are initially assessed and categorised
- Criteria used to determine whether a matter proceeds to a formal investigation
- How matters are addressed in cases where it is determined that a formal investigation is not warranted and the threshold for determining whether a matter will be addressed at all
- How the scope of a matter is defined, including which allegations or conduct are included and excluded, whether elements outside the original concern are still addressed, Thresholds, preliminary review processes, and processes for deciding whether multiple matters are consolidated, separated, or referred elsewhere

Investigator Appointment and Independence
- Processes for selecting or appointing investigators
- Any criteria, qualifications, or role requirements
- Policies or procedures for identifying and managing actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and bias
- Requirements relating to independence, including separation from relevant teams or reporting lines
- Guidance on reassignment or oversight where conflicts arise

Evidential Assessment
- Internal guidance on evaluating evidence in staff conduct matters
- Any stated or applied standard of proof (e.g., balance of probabilities)
- How it is decided whether all evidence is included and if not, how it is determined what is(n’t) included
- Approaches to assessing credibility
- Guidance on resolving conflicting or inconsistent accounts

Procedural Fairness
- Protocols ensuring that all parties involved have an opportunity to respond to relevant adverse information presented
- Expectations regarding the disclosure of relevant information

Reporting and Documentation
- Policies or practices governing investigation outputs
- Any criteria for producing findings, summaries, or reports
- Any templates which are followed

Outcome Communication:
- Guidance on what information is provided to complainants
- Whether complainants are informed of: the findings of the investigation, whether allegations were fully upheld/partially upheld/not upheld and how these decisions were made, any actions that will be taken as a result of the complaint (excluding from those that are protected by employment law)
- Circumstances under which outcome information may be withheld or limited from the parties involved

Complainant Protection:
- Policies or procedures that protect the privacy and confidentiality of complainants
- Measures to ensure complainants are not subjected to retaliation, intimidation, or victimisation as a result of the complaint raised
- Guidance on record-keeping, disclosure limitations, and anonymisation of sensitive information
- Steps taken to monitor or follow up on protection measures after the conclusion of an investigation

Where information falls within scope but is held across multiple documents, I request the relevant extracts rather than refusal under section 18(f). If any information is withheld, please specify the grounds under the Act and the interest being protected. If any part of this request is likely to be refused, I request reasonable assistance to refine the request in accordance with section 13 of the Act.

Yours faithfully,

A. L.