A resolution has been provided in the saga at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture that has made waves in the press since first coming to light last year.
The institution has now issued a formal apology in response to the independent investigation into educational practices and environment that permeated at the school for decades.
UCL says it is also in receipt of the recommendations for improvement put forth in a recent investigative report created by independent consultancy Howlett Brown using a survey of more than 300 former faculty and students. As was expected based on previous reporting of first-hand accounts, the respondents in their survey detailed a frightening and toxic culture of abuse, racism, bullying, and even sexual harassment occurring at every level. Accordingly, the school has announced it will be removing several faculty members from student-facing administrative duties in addition to setting up a new working group that will help further adapt the recommended changes put forth by Howlett Brown.
“Their testimonies expose an inexcusable and pernicious underbelly of bullying and other unacceptable behaviour that is completely at odds with the values on which UCL was founded,” UCL President Michael Spence said in the statement. “While the report acknowledges that not everyone at the BSA has been a part of this culture, that these behaviours have been able to persist over a timespan of years means that something has gone terribly wrong. We must and absolutely will address that swiftly and robustly. Most importantly, I want to apologise to everyone who has suffered because of the culture of bullying, harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct within the BSA. What you have been through is wrong and should not have been allowed to happen. I recognise your pain and distress and the myriad long-term consequences of what you have experienced.”
The recommendations are reported to include the creation of a new EDI strategy and further investigations into more serious incidents involving several faculty members and "the importance of reviewing the tutor hiring structure to mitigate bias and promote greater equality and diversity."
The Bartlett’s Built Environment Professor and Dean Christoph Lindner spoke for the faculty, stating “this report contains shocking testimonies and highlights a number of unforgivable incidents. I am truly sorry that some of our students and staff have been subjected to such behaviour during their time at the Bartlett School of Architecture. We know this is a moment of change for the BSA, as well as for the architecture sector as a whole, which has also been struggling to address workplace cultures and behaviour.”
In March 2022, the Bartlett announced Amy Kulper as its new Director which will come into effect on September 1, 2022. During our recent coverage of the announcement it was reported, "Kulper will replace Bob Sheil, who had served in the post from 2014 until his planned departure this past fall amidst allegations of racism and sexual discrimination at the school."
Lindner adds "It’s time for us to have some difficult conversations about how we disrupt existing structures of privilege and power, making space and opportunities for those who have previously been marginalised. This is why we are inviting practising architects, sector bodies, other education institutions and advocacy groups to join us at a series of roundtable events where we will lay out the issues and tackle them collectively. We will be transparent about this process and will share our progress."
3 Comments
I graduated from the Bartlett a few years ago, it has always struck me that I and so many of my peers remember our time at university as the worst period of our lives. For those who struggled with their projects, they were often met not with support, but with personal attacks in front of their peers and other esteemed professionals.
I entered university as a happy, confident 18 year old ready to drink "from the firehose" so to speak, and left as a nervous & anxious shell several years later. To this day I'm still unsure if I was to blame for failing to thrive in such an environment - it was certainly the survival of the fittest.
The dysfunction in architecture schools perpetuated by faculty and administrators spreads to the real world. Students trained in such environments export their biases to the real world. The AIA and NCARB have failed to create an egalitarian profession. Licensing should never be at the hands of such professionals.
Our industry has been run into the ground. This is not an isolated incident, this is just a rare case of the truth being brought to light.
Bald faced lying is so common in architectural rhetoric its not even shocking anymore.
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