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Hayward Thesis Working Party Report
Published by the Communications and Development Department
|
| Chancellor | Dame Phyllis Guthardt (since 1999) |
| Acting Vice-Chancellor (CEO) | Professor Bob Kirk |
| Students | c11,850 (c50% male and c50% female) |
| EFTS (equivalent full-time students) | 11,192 |
| Continuing Education enrolments | c6700 pa (community and professional) |
| Masters theses | c170pa |
| Graduates | 2747 (1999) |
| Staff | c1300 (500 academic, 800 general) |
| Operating budget | $140 million pa |
| Trust funds | $70 million |
| Fixed assets | $424 million |
| Grounds | 76 hectares |
The University Council
The University Council is the governing body of the university.
It is responsible for the governance of the university and its powers
are set out in the Education Act (1989). These include the oversight
of the institution's policy, degree, financial and capital matters.
The council is chaired by the university chancellor, figure-head
of the university. In the absence of the chancellor, the pro-chancellor
deputises.
The Hayward Thesis Working Party
The independent working party was established by the University
of Canterbury Council in April 2000 to investigate the circumstances
in which Dr Joel Hayward was awarded a master of arts degree with
first-class honours in 1993 after submitting his thesis, entitled
"The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry Into the
Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism".
Retired High Court judge The Hon. Sir Ian Barker of Auckland
chaired the three-member working party during its six-month-long
investigation. Sir Ian was a High Court judge for 21 years and a
former chancellor of the University of Auckland, a position he held
from 1991 to 1999.
Sir Ian was assisted by:
Emeritus Professor Anne Trotter of Wellington, a historian
and former assistant vice-chancellor (humanities) at the University
of Otago.
Professor Stuart Macintyre of Melbourne, Dean of the Faculty
of Arts at the University of Melbourne and Ernest Scott Professor
of History.
Working Party Terms of Reference
1991 Joel Hayward enrols in a Master of Arts (MA) degree
in the Department of History at the University of Canterbury.
4 March 1993 Joel Hayward submits his MA thesis entitled:
"The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the
Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism."
28 April 1993 Joel Hayward embargoes his MA thesis for three
years.
7 May 1993 Joel Hayward's MA (first-class honours) conferred.
5 November 1996 Joel Hayward requests the university librarian
extend the embargo.
1 January 1999 Embargo expires. Joel Hayward's thesis becomes
public.
8 December 1999 Joel Hayward writes to the Vice Chancellor
Professor Daryl Le Grew requesting his thesis be withdrawn from
the University library.
26 January 2000 Dean of Postgraduate Studies Professor Graeme
Wake writes to Joel Hayward declining his request for the library
to withdraw the thesis but invites him to attach an addendum to
the thesis.
4 April 2000 The Jewish Council writes to the University
Chancellor Dame Phyllis Guthardt requesting the University revoke
Joel Hayward's MA degree.
26 April 2000 The University Council calls for an independent
investigation into the circumstances in which Joel Hayward was awarded
a Master of Arts degree (with first-class honours) in 1993.
15 May 2000 The University of Canterbury announces the terms
of reference and members of the independent working party established
to investigate Joel Hayward's master's thesis.
18 December 2000 The University Council receives the Hayward
Thesis Report from the independent working party.
20 December 2000 The University Council releases the Hayward
Thesis Report to the public.
Dr Joel Hayward
Dr Joel Hayward is currently a senior lecturer and programme co-ordinator
for defence and strategic studies at Massey University (www.massey.ac.nz),
Palmerston North, New Zealand.
He is a military historian and analyst with an interest in theoretical
and conceptual aspects of modern warfare, including airpower and
joint doctrines and the theoretical foundation of both German Blitzkrieg
and contemporary manoeuvre warfare.
Dr Hayward also lectures at the New Zealand Army's Officer Cadet
School (OCS) and Military Studies Institute (MSI) and the Royal
New Zealand Air Force's Command and Staff College (RNZAF CSC).
Dr Hayward received his Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Arts (MA)
and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees from the University of Canterbury.
His BA was conferred in 1991, his MA (first-class honours) in 1993
and his PhD in 1996.
His PhD thesis title: "Seeking the Philosopher's Stone: Luftwaffe
Operations during Hitler's Drive to the East, 1942 -1943."
His MA thesis title: "The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical
Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism."
Dr Vincent Orange
Dr Vincent Orange of the Department of History at the University
of Canterbury was the supervisor appointed in 1991 to oversee Joel
Hayward's MA thesis.
A Reader in History (a university lecturer of the highest grade
below professor), Dr Orange joined the Department of History at
the University of Canterbury in 1962. He is highly regarded and
an eminent scholar of many years standing.
Dr Orange holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Hull, England,
and is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (MRAeS).
Dr Orange teaches medieval and 20th century European history at
the University of Canterbury and specialises in air power history
and the military, naval and air aspects of the world wars. He has
published six books, five of which are biographies of airmen.
Professor John Jensen
Professor John Jensen, formerly of the Department of History, University
of Waikato, was the external examiner of the Hayward Thesis.
University hours over the Christmas/new year period:
Friday 22 December 2000 University officially closed
January 3 January 2001 University reopens
The University of Canterbury will continue post up-to-date information
on this website over the next few months.
20 December 2000
The University of Canterbury has apologised to the Jewish Community
through the New Zealand Jewish Council for the hurt caused by a
1993 Master's thesis by Joel Hayward entitled "The Fate of the Jews
in German Hands."
20 December 2000
The University of Canterbury takes responsibility for its acceptance
of this flawed thesis, and for the consequences, and unreservedly
apologises to the Jewish community for the understandable upset
it has caused.
" From the moment the matter was first drawn to my attention earlier
this year I was most concerned and my personal view then was that
an apology was required. But as Vice-Chancellor I first had to wait
for the independent review process to be carried out. Only in this
way could we ensure that the different parties were treated fairly
and their rights respected," the Vice-Chancellor Professor Daryl
Le Grew said.
" We are currently talking constructively to members of the Jewish
community and the Jewish Council about what we can do to make amends,"
he said.
" I want to make it perfectly clear, and I say this with absolute
confidence: the University of Canterbury does not support holocaust
revisionism and the University does not harbour anti-Semitic feeling.
The Working Party Report backs this up.
" Over a long period of time the University of Canterbury has welcomed
Jewish scholars and has provided a safe haven for scholars like
Sir Karl Popper and others. There are Jewish scholars at the University
at the moment and every year our Erskine Foundation and other endowments
sponsors visits by Jewish and other scholars across the University.
Our own scholars are welcomed into Jewish centres of learning around
the world."
The Working Party Report, adopted by Council, is an open and thorough
academic review. It has found, and the Council has accepted, that
the thesis did not deserve the highest accolade of first class honours.
Rather, it should have been revised and resubmitted. But the Report
also concludes that, while it demonstrated faulty research and lack
of judgement, the thesis was not dishonest. This means that neither
the thesis nor the degree can be amended, removed, downgraded or
altered. This is what the law says," Professor Le Grew said.
" But we will make sure that this Working Party report is bound
with the Hayward thesis so that the two documents will always be
read in tandem. We are also doing our best to send the report to
all those websites displaying the Hayward thesis and are asking
them to include the report with it. Our own website
will display the addendum to the thesis and the Working Party Report
together for the next few months.
" The University agrees that it should not have accepted the thesis
towards an MA without far more scrutiny than was the case. The reasons
for this are clearly outlined in the Report. Had the thesis been
mooted today it would have been subjected to improved departmental
and university processes," he said.
" As the Working Party Report says, informal procedures might have
sufficed in the past but a modern university requires greater accountability
and higher standards of supervision, recording of student progress
and supervision," he said.
Professor Le Grew said that the cost to the University of the Hayward
thesis Working Party Report and associated legal advice would be
between $150,000 and $200,000.
" The costs have been very hard to bear when the University is having
to cut back on its budgets for next year by up to 3%," he said.
" However, this was not something we could ignore. We have to maintain
the reputation for internationally recognised scholarship that the
University has painstakingly built up over more than a century.
Academic standards and reputations are at the heart of the University's
work. The expenditure has enriched our systems, our standards and
our academic process," he said.
" We could not stand by and let our University suffer from constant
criticism and controversy. We had to take action. Commissioning
an independent report was agreed by the Council as being the best
solution."
Over the past few years a detailed process for checks and balances
has been put in place to ensure that all research and academic endeavour
follows proper and ethical guidelines. Departments now have post-graduate
co-ordinators and committees for considering topics and supervisors
and improved performance monitoring Ethics committees are operational
and the Dean of Post-Graduate Studies and the Academic Administration
Committee are central monitors of process.
Not all of these committees or appointments were in place in the
early 1990s.
This year, the University carried out an audit of randomly selected
History Department theses written around the same time as the Hayward
thesis and has had their grades independently audited. The audit
confirmed the grades awarded which demonstrates that the Hayward
thesis is an isolated incident and the University's reputation for
scholarship retains its international quality.
The embargo, which ultimately lasted for seven years, was unusual
and should never have been allowed to go on for so long. It again
demonstrates that the University's processes were far from adequate
then. Among the reasons given were that some people were fearful
of harassment if it were to be published. But it should not have
been for more than two years and it should never have been extended.
An embargo can be requested, and is perfectly acceptable for a very
short period of time if, for example the thesis or part of it is
about to be published elsewhere, or if something commercial is involved
in the research and publication by the University would affect this.
Either way the upper limit is now two years, and an embargo will
only happen with the prior approval of the Dean of Post-Graduate
Studies.
The University has recently formed a policy on the placement of
embargoes to prevent this happening again.
The recommendations and conclusions of the Working Party Report,
and the University's subsequent apology and acceptance of responsibility,
in no way impinge on academic freedom.
To argue for academic freedom on the basis of this thesis is not
sustainable. The Working Party points out that the freedom to express
unpopular and controversial views is crucial but must be based on
sound research. Unfortunately, this thesis is flawed, its methodology
is dubious and its conclusions do not stand up to the weight of
evidence.
Academic freedom gives our students - and the students at any university
in the world - the right to study whatever topic they choose. But
their study must follow the right processes and checks and balances,
and we must have supervisors with appropriate expertise and skill
in the area of study selected.
This is something that we have been looking at, along with other
New Zealand universities. Quite independent of this issue, we have
just undertaken a research audit at the University. Among other
things, it looked closely at the research processes at masterate
and doctorate level. I'm aware that, for example, Otago University
has changed the examination procedure so that the supervisor is
not normally the internal examiner. Other universities, including
Canterbury, have not yet adopted such a change. But we are looking
at it right now with a view to change.
The University has also been involved in a survey of post-graduate
students which has pointed out that there are still some anomalies
in the system and not all post-graduates are happy with their supervision.
This is again something to be look at more closely in the new year
by the Post-Graduate Committee and the Dean of Post-Graduate Studies.
The Supervision of the Hayward thesis has been criticised by the
Working Party Report and it is once again an example of how inadequate
the University's processes were. We should have had processes in
place then to support the supervisor and Joel Hayward in their endeavour.
The Working Party Report criticises the University for not keeping records of the processes followed at the time the Hayward thesis was being supervised and produced eight or more years ago. Again, the University did not have policies or processes in place at the time on the keeping of records and we are looking carefully at the overall management of our University records now, to rectify the situation.
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