Ninth Level Ireland

“this leaves me and the rest of the female students feeling quite uncomfortable,The guys just describe him as ‘the creep’ #fruitbatgate” (tweet)

[uccmedstudent, Twitter, 18 May]

“As far as I’m aware, I started the #fruitbatgate tag on twitter. I felt it was the right thing to do when I signed the petition for Dr Evans, because I felt his case deserved as much attention as possible. When I read the Huffington Post article on the matter, before the other documents had come out, my thinking went like this: …” (more)

[Stephen Kinsella, 18 May]

“@iainmacl #fruitbatgate You are spot on. Amazed at how many eminent people sign petition on basis of hearing just 1 side of a story.” (tweet)

[Dorothy Bishop, Twitter, 18 May]

“Will new ministers ensure that universities, which have already taken the financial rap, are not subjected to further reductions? …” (more)

[Pam Tatlow, Guardian, 18 May]

“Bad news for unpopular agenda as David Willetts calls for scientific literacy, not ‘utilitarian calculation’. The economic value of public investment in science is best demonstrated by the ability of a scientifically literate country to capitalise on advancements made around the world, according to the minister for science and universities …” (more)

[Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, 18 May]

“This week UCC got some rather unconventional bad press after one of its lecturers, Dr Dylan Evans, an expert in Behavioural Science at the School of Medicine, leaked a story to the media about his internal disciplining because of an alleged sexual advance on one of his colleagues in the School …” (more)

[Daniel O'Carroll, Cork Student News, 18 May]

“… Mr Evans said: ‘I assumed the findings had exonerated me and was relieved to have been cleared’. However, UCC president Dr Murphy, refuted this. He said the investigators had upheld the complaint regarding showing her the article about oral sex among bats and that this amounted to sexual harassment. Dr Murphy said the sanctions imposed on Mr Evans, a two-year period of intensive monitoring and counselling, were in line with UCC’s outlined protocols …” (more)

[BreakingNews.ie, 18 May]

“Sad but true: RT @breakfastnt: Papers publish name of complainant in #fruitbatgate – who would be brave enough to make a complaint now?” (tweet)

[Kelly Coate, Twitter, 18 May]

“A UCC lecturer has claimed the upholding of a complaint of sexual harassment made against him over showing a female colleague a research paper on the sexual activities of bats is an example of how academic freedom is being stifled …” (more)

[Barry Roche, Irish Times, 18 May]

“The Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has insisted there will be no disciplinary action taken against two senior academics who circulated defamatory comments about a lecturer …” (more)

[Brian McDonald, Independent, 18 May]

“Right now it seems the whole world, and not just the academic part of it, is talking about the tale of the University College Cork lecturer and the article on the sexual habits of fruit bats. Indeed the story has been awarded the ultimate accolade of the electronic world, a hashtag name on Twitter, #fruitbatgate …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 18 May]

“UCC seem fair set to make matters worse for themselves in #fruitbatgate. They don’t like all the public discussion. http://bit.ly/b7ucA4″ (tweet)

[Miriam Cotton, Twitter, 18 May]

“A university lecturer who filed a complaint of sexual harassment against a colleague who showed her an article about the sex life of fruit bats is a highly regarded expert on clinical nutrition …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 18 May]

“… Scary. I doubt there is any properly systematic data on this issue in the Irish system, but as the numbers of core staff is reduced, the slack will be picked up somewhere, and possibly through increased numbers of part-time and other staff …” (more)

[Shane O'Mara, Irishscience, 17 May]

“University College Cork has yesterday expressed grave concern about how details of an internal sexual harassment complaint have become public on the internet …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 18 May]

“Cutting edge research projects are to get an €8.5 million funding boost, creating jobs and training places for 105 researchers and contributing to the ‘smart’ economy …” (more)

[Ciara O'Brien, Irish Times, 18 May]

“#fruitbatgate raises problem of handling perceived sexual advances in workplace – overreactions only fuel male resentment & misunderstanding” (tweet)

[Laura Farrell, Twitter, 18 May]

“The ‘big-spending’ areas of health and education are reportedly being targeted by department of finance mandarins as the fiscal crisis continues. These reports have unleashed great apprehension across the education sector. But the scope for another ‘slash and burn’ exercise in schools and colleges is very narrow …” (more)

[Irish Times, 18 May]

“Thanks to an international debate on sexual harassment sparked by none other than our own University College Cork, we now know that fruit bats give each other oral sex. Just how they might do this – is hanging upside down part of the appeal? – or why they would do this, or whether they experience pleasure as we know it, is beyond even my vivid imagination …” (more)

[Kate Holmquist, Irish Times, 18 May]

“The truth is that ‘free fees’ are nothing more than the transfer of resources from the poor to the wealthy …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Irish Times, 18 May]