Dear University of Otago,

I reside in New Zealand. I request information under the Official Information Act 1982.

I request the number of complaints of misconduct against Law Faculty staff. I also request that any complaints be broken up by year and that you provide details for any complaints in the last 10 years.

I request also that if there are any complaints that they be broken down into categories of: inappropriate or unwanted touching (1), unwelcome or harassing comments (2), requests or threats for favours of a sexual nature (3), coercion through threatening bad grades or promising good grades with a sexual component (4), harassment involving photos, emails or other digital technology(5), sexual assault (6) and rape (7).

I also request that if there are multiple complaints that you disclose how many complaint incidents occurred during the annual Law Camp.

I also request that if there are multiple complaints that you indicate how many were laid by employees or contractors working for the university and how many by students or ex-students.

I also request to know if there has been any disciplinary action taken in response to Law Faculty staff if any such complaints have been made.

If there have been complaint(s) about Law Faculty staff I also request to know if staff have been referred to a stopping violence/sexual harassment related support service for training.

If there are complaints which contain identifying details for the complainants we ask that you redact the identifying details and still release the information.

I also request that if any correspondence exists between any Law Faculty staff and any university officials advising Law Faculty staff to depart the University of Otago and seek employment elsewhere that these correspondence(s) be released.

With regards to the manner in which the information is released I request that any documents released be in an accessible, searchable format, i.e. no pdf's of scanned documents that would require transcribing and that would not be readable to people who rely on screen readers. And a spreadsheet format, such as CSV or XLSX, is preferable for tabular data. I also request that documents be uploaded online to fyi.org.nz website in response to my request rather than sent privately.

I request this information urgently and as a matter of public interest as all students and staff should have their right to safety and dignity in work and education upheld. If staff or anyone is harassing or causing harm to others then it is a public concern especially given that sexual violence, harassment and coercion thrives in secrecy. I ask that you release this information as soon as practicably possible and no later.

I trust I will hear back promptly.

Yours faithfully,

K Gillies