Aaron Harwood claimed his autism – which was undiagnosed when he sent his former student a series of text messages seeking a personal relationship – explained his failure to pick up on her cues she wasn’t interested.
Harwood’s 20-year academic career at the University of Melbourne was terminated in September,after it found he breached multiple workplace policies and sexually harassed the woman,an international student in the Melbourne School of Engineering and Technology.
Harwood had been promoted to associate professor in the school,on a base salary of more than $162,000,not long before his employment was terminated.
He wrote an apology letter to the research assistant as his dismissal loomed,stating he knew that pursuing a personal relationship would be in breach of university policies but that “at that time in my life I would have accepted risking my career for you”.
The letter,part of a last-ditch attempt to save his job,instead provided proof of his deliberate motives in breaching university policies,according to a Fair Work judgment on his unfair dismissal application.
Harwood’s unwanted advances occurred in 2016. The woman made a formal complaint about him in May last year,which prompted a university investigation.
The Fair Work Commission rejected his application for an unfair dismissal finding on Wednesday. Its judgment noted the university was rightly concerned by the significant power imbalance between academic staff and students and the risk that a student could be subject to unwelcome and inappropriate behaviour.