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SINGAPORE: The National University of Singapore (NUS) has “fallen short” in its handling of the dismissal of Dr. Jeremy Fernando, a fellow of Tembusu College, said the university’s rector, Professor Tommy Koh.
Dr. Fernando was fired by NUS after it was discovered that he had “an intimate relationship” with a student.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference at Tembusu College on Friday (October 23), Professor Koh said: “The university can learn from the Singapore government from the way it treated SARS in 2003 and COVID-19 in 2020 … The policy is to be open instead of closed, transparent instead of opaque, to provide timely information to your stakeholders instead of withholding such information.
“So using these two, three criteria, in my opinion, NUS has fallen short.”
Acknowledging that there was a “considerable gap” between the date the university fired Dr. Fernando and when the rest of Tembusu College was informed, Professor Koh noted that NUS had a “fairly conservative culture”, and felt that when it was fired to a staff the practice would be “don’t tell the world someone has been fired.”
He added: “But what I told NUS is that this HR practice is applicable in the private sector, but not applicable to a public institution like this one. And Tembusu College is a public institution, I have many stakeholders: I have 600 students, I have professors, each of them has the right to know. And in this sense, I think NUS has fallen short. “
Jeremy Fernando was fired from NUS on October 7, weeks after NUS received the first complaint against him on August 27.
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NUS said it made a police report on Wednesday and police confirmed Thursday that a report was filed and that investigations were ongoing.
The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) in a statement Thursday asked the university to clarify why it filed the police report.
“We can understand why some are upset by NUS’s actions. From a survivor-centered, trauma-based perspective, it is not ideal to report if a survivor of sexual assault is reluctant. A crucial component of healing from trauma is regaining a sense of control, a sense that is often eroded during an invasive and violating assault, ”AWARE said in the statement.
“Survivors should be allowed, to the extent possible, to exercise their own autonomy and agency in their own cases. We believe this is an essential principle for trauma victim support services; after all, a survivor would probably be less inclined to access support, even if she desperately needed it, from a service that would force her to do things against her will. “
“IT MUST MOVE TOWARDS GREATER TRANSPARENCY”
Responding to questions about how NUS will deal with similar incidents in the future, Associate Professor Leong Ching, NUS Dean of Students and Associate Chancellor (Special Projects) said the university tends to “err on the side of caution.”
Associate Professor Leong spoke together with Professor Koh and Tembusu College Master Adjunct Professor Kelvin Pang.
“In this case and in the future, I believe that we can and must move towards greater transparency,” he said.
“We will have greater transparency in cases of sexual misconduct, including our internal communications of such cases. How can we achieve greater transparency without compromising the privacy and well-being of victims?
“And the second (promise) is to observe the speed of the police reports. We understand that there is a need to comply with our legal obligation, but also at the same time proceed with caution in the exceptional circumstances that we have described above: the possibility that the complainant will self-harm and also threaten the safety of the complainant. “
Adjunct Professor Leong clarified that the university had reached out to inform both students before the police report was made, and had managed to inform one of them. “But we were unable to communicate with the other, and we informed both students immediately after (the report),” he added.
Responding to questions about why more details about the incidents that led to Dr. Fernando’s dismissal were not initially released, Associate Professor Pang said the university found sufficient evidence of a violation of the Code of Conduct.
“There was no need, and there was nothing established at the time about sexual misconduct, and I don’t think it was fair, or (it was) premature at the time to release that in a statement, even though the whistleblowers had given permission,” he added .
Associate Professor Pang said that during a Tembusu College town hall on Friday, the university had made a commitment to interact with alumni, as some of them may have met Dr. Fernando.
The university also plans to engage professional resources to support students and support the Community Support Task Force made up of students earlier this week, he added.
“We are very disappointed that this happened, the students and staff are all grieving.”
READ: Tembusu College students form a group to ‘rebuild’, ‘strengthen’ confidence after the dismissal of a university colleague
TIMETABLE OF EVENTS
In its statement on Wednesday, NUS had said it had received two complaints alleging that Dr. Fernando had “behaved inappropriately” as a teaching staff.
The university first received a complaint against Dr. Fernando on August 27, and it was suspended on August 31. On September 7, NUS received a second complaint from another student, it said in its statement.
In both cases, a no-contact order was issued to prohibit him from contacting the whistleblowers. The students were also interviewed about their complaints on August 31 and September 9, respectively.
NUS completed its internal investigation of the first complaint on September 5 and the second complaint on September 21.
Dr. Fernando was informed of the alleged misconduct on September 21 and was given seven business days to “respond with additional information / mitigating factors,” the university said. He responded on September 30.
On October 7, NUS informed Dr. Fernando that he was fired after internal investigations into his conduct, and the two students were also informed of the outcome of their complaints in separate sessions.
On October 18, Tembusu College sent an email to all staff members and students to inform them of the dismissal of Dr. Fernando, NUS said. The following day, the care manager contacted the two students who had filed the complaints to “check their well-being”.
