The High Court has quashed the sanctions imposed on a UCC lecturer after he showed a female colleague a scientific paper about the sex life of fruit bats.
The court did not quash the original findings leading to the sanctions of UCC.
Dr Dylan Evans, 43, had challenged the findings of a UCC inquiry and the sanctions imposed on him, including a two-year period of monitoring and training.
The High Court President, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, ruled that Dr Evans, a behavioural science lecturer in UCC's Department of Medicine, should have been admonished or received a verbal warning rather than being required to undergo counselling and two years of monitoring.
The sanction was disproportionate, the judge said, and he ruled the matter should now go back to the President of UCC, Dr Michael Murphy, who imposed the sanctions.
The judge also awarded costs to Dr Evans.
Dr Evans had argued that he was not given a fair hearing during the inquiry into sexual harassment allegations made against him by his colleague Dr Rossana Salerno Kennedy.
The court heard the case centred on an incident on 2 November 2009, when Dr Evans was passing by Dr Kennedy's office and showed her a scientific paper entitled ‘Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time’.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Kearns noted the scientific article complained of, dealing with experiments undertaken in China, was a very technical document, written in very small print with nothing or a lurid or graphic nature or anything photographic.
The article was awarded a ‘Ig Nobel’ award for papers which may have humorous content as well as serious scientific material and that was the case here, the judge noted.
Dr Evans said afterwards that he was very happy with the decision.
In a statement afterwards, UCC said it welcomed the High Court's decision and said Dr Evans' challenge to the findings of the inquiry had been rejected.
The university said it would give further consideration to the court's decision regarding the sanctions imposed on Dr Evans.
However, UCC said its decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Dr Evans in respect of alleged breaches of confidentiality in relation to the sexual harassment investigation still stands and would now proceed.
