Academic fired for complaining Muslim student wouldn't shake hands
A university academic has been fired after accusing a female Muslim student of sexual discrimination for refusing to shake his hand.
The man, a University of Auckland academic who has not been named, was fired after he was found trying to make a Muslim woman shake his hand before making the complaint according to an email from vice-chancellor Stuart McCutcheon.
Mr McCutcheon said the man did it intentionally knowing it was culturally and religiously inappropriate to ask the Muslim woman to make physical contact with him knowing he was not a close relative or her husband.
The university undertook an investigation and found the academic's actions were "serious misconduct" leading to his termination late last year.
The vice-chancellor added he chose to delay telling staff members of the man's dismissal to protect the privacy of all parties involved.
"It is important for all members of our community to understand such behaviours have no place in the university, and that if they do occur I will not hesitate to authorise appropriate investigatory and disciplinary procedures," he said in the statement.
University of Auckland Muslim Students Association former-president Ahmad Umar told Stuff.co.nz the university did the "right thing by terminating the staff member's employment" and praised the university for showing there is "no space for discrimination".
He added he spent five years at the university but never encountered any discrimination.
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Physics professor Nicola Gaston posted part of the email to Twitter and also praised the university.
"Feels weird not to be able to be more critical of this all staff email, perhaps... But this is exactly what I have been wanting our institutions to be telling us," she tweeted.
"Step One: Acknowledge the problem."
