The report was released last Friday. Photo / 123rf
A report that revealed a "toxic" environment at New Zealand Broadcasting School placed too much blame on students and didn't dig back far enough, one current and two former students claim.
The report came out last Thursday and found no evidence of staff harassing or bullying students. However, it found students had accused fellow classmates of bullying and sexual harassment and that they alleged tutors had witnessed some of this behaviour.
Inappropriate and sexist language was frequently used within the school, the report heard, and on occasion, written on classroom whiteboards. "You can't get anywhere without sucking a little d***", was one comment allegedly left for others to see.
Reacting to the report, a current student told the Herald they believed there wasn't enough communication from the school on how to come forward to talk to investigators.
"Ara sent us one email that said this report, this investigation, is going on if you want to contribute you need to email these lawyers and they will respond to you."
The report said students were sent two emails.
That student said some of their peers didn't even know they were able to be involved in the report.
They believed the period the review encompassed, from early 2019 to late 2021, was not long enough to identify what they alleged was "institutional rot" at the school, which is part of Ara Institute of Canterbury.
"Things that happened four, five years ago are still just as relevant as things that happened last year, because those things have been ignored."
While the student felt the school was committed to change, they didn't believe the report outlined key problems students saw at the school.
"I don't think the report was at all an accurate representation of the culture, the mood and the feeling here at broadcasting school."
They said other students they had spoken to were mad, angry, confused and hurt by the review.
"The vibe here is [that] there is harassment and bullying, within the staff, and that it was not reached [by the review]."
They believed students weren't taken as seriously as they could have been in the report and there was an "unfair weighting" towards the concerns of staff.
"The school is great at PR, they're great at saving their own a****, but what they need to do is focus on student voices."
Ultimately, they thought the report was a step in the right direction, but not a complete fix.
Investigator Richard Raymond said it would not be appropriate for him to comment.
However, he pointed to part of the report which said two emails were sent to students, one on November 4 and another on January 21.
Ara's acting chief executive Darren Mitchell said the school acted swiftly to address student concerns once they were made aware of allegations last year.
"Ara stands by both the process taken by Richard Raymond QC and the investigation findings."
Mitchell said their focus now is on the future and implementing the recommendations to ensure the best learning environment for their students.
Overall, the investigator made 60 recommendations, all of which have been accepted by Ara and which it says it will now implement.
One former student, who finished before the report's scope started, submitted a detailed account to the investigator of the issues they faced while at the school.
Although they were outside of the report's scope, they said the same staff mostly still work at the school and believed they should have received a response
They said it was "pretty s***" that the investigators didn't reply to their December email, which they had put a lot of time and thought into.
"If they are wanting to encourage people to be a part of change or to support change then, either forgetting to or not bothering to reply, that is disappointing."
The person, who now works in journalism, said in their email to the investigator that one tutor was "particularly judgmental" towards mental health issues the person was grappling with.
"I felt like they didn't want to hear that stuff [about mental illness] because they felt like they might then have a duty to pass that on to people that might employ us. It was like, this is how you should be, if you're not like that, go talk to other people or maybe re-think your place here, that was the impression I got.
"When I would talk to [the tutor] about having struggles with depression [they would] bring up examples of days where I'd been really good, and be like why can't you be like that all the time?" They told the Herald.
Their message to the investigator said they were "regularly" criticised by one of the tutors for some of their eccentric clothes and wavy hair.
"I was happy to tidy up on camera but my everyday study attire became a big problem for [the tutor]. I didn't understand and felt even more that I couldn't be myself."
Former student Luke Hempleman also said during his time at the school he experienced mental health issues and while one of his tutors checked to see if he was okay, he said there was no "follow up" from that tutor.
Hempleman, who attended broadcasting school from 2018 to 2019, said for such a small and intimate group there should have been pastoral care but experience in this amongst the tutors wasn't there.
Over the course of his training he claimed nearly 50 per cent of his class left.
He believed the institution had not taken "any sort" of accountability of the situation, beyond recognising the report and saying that they'll change.
One part of the report stated, there was no evidence from students which amounted to harassment, as that term is defined, as well as no reports of tutors bullying, as defined.
"The perception that has been generated that there is a problem with this at the NZBS is highly regrettable and is false. It is most regrettable from the perspective of the current tutors who have been unfairly maligned," the investigator wrote.
Although Hempleman said he did witness some peer on peer issues at the school, he ultimately believed the responsibility fell on tutors.
"I don't think it's fair [to put the blame on students], I think a lot of the onus should be on tutors."
Overall he said the problems weren't student problems, they were institution problems and it was disappointing to see the school "immediately going on the defensive".
"I don't think most of the tutors had any sort malignant or bad intentions, I would say none of them would have bad intentions, I would say they've just sort of been failed by the institution."
Hempleman said he'd like to see more accountability than what Ara have shown and wants to see the changes they've said they'll initiate.
"I want to be able to say i went to the New Zealand Broadcasting School, and that to mean something like it used to 10, 15 years ago, it was a real point of pride. And it don't think it is [now].
"I think it's a real pivotal moment for Broadcasting School and up until this point I don't think they've been handling it very well."
Hempleman, who did attend the school within the investigation's scope, told the Herald he wasn't aware former students were able to contribute to the report.
Ara's Mitchell said they have moved quickly to appoint live-in management to the student accommodation facility, and extra resource to the NZBS to support the school in responding to relevant recommendations.
"We are well progressed in updating the Code of Professional Practice as well as our policies relating to inappropriate behaviours.
"Ara is also continuing to invest into cultural capability development institute-wide and access to mental health and social work support has been enhanced."
If students have any concerns, he told the Herald they could bring them to the Institution's attention and assured they will be taken seriously and dealt with appropriately.
"An update on progress related to the implementation of recommendations will be provided at the end of July."
Ara will not be commenting any further on the investigation process or the report findings, he said.
The report found no allegations of bullying nor sexual harassment toward students from tutors in the last three years.
It did receive evidence that a "small minority" of tutors in some streams allowed a culture to prevail in class which enabled not only bullying, but also sexual harassment by some students.
Investigator Richard Raymond, QC, wrote that one student's allegations were "undoubtedly bullying" and also involved sexist and derogatory comments.
"A tutor was often present, and is alleged to have 'chuckled along with the boys'," he wrote.
Under the "bullying" headline, he noted that information from students was that up to about one quarter of the class in some streams, in some years, were subjected to bullying from fellow students.
"In several cases, students maintain that some tutors were at least aware of the bullying, because it would have been impossible not to see it and/or hear it. The tutors I was able to speak to do not accept this, or I did not address it with them as it did not concern them."
The investigation team heard evidence of a tutor referring to a non-Pākehā student as someone who would do well on an "urban station", because the student had "an urban look".
The investigators heard complaints from students regarding allegations of a racial slur typically used against black people.
The report noted many students described the high levels of stress on the course and there were times when the students were required to work seven days a week, and very long hours.
Several students described as a "boys' club" culture, where women at the school frequently felt sexually objectified by comments directly made or inferred by male students in this prevailing culture.
The investigator made 60 recommendations, all of which were accepted by Ara.
Police are seeking dashcam footage of the vehicle involved in the incident.