Editorial: Harsh call for uni staff

Otago University was recently subject to a mass shooting threat.

Earlier this month I wrote about the shooting threat at Otago University and posed the question, would you have gone to class that day if you were a student?

I concluded students could be excused for bunking lectures, especially given it was only days after a mass shooting and New Zealand police were taking the threat seriously.

Almost half the university's students decided it wasn't worth the risk. And it wasn't just them.

Some staff also elected to stay home that day. Yesterday it was revealed those staff members who didn't go to work have been made to record that day as annual leave. The university's human resource director issued a statement saying the university was open for business and some staff had gone to work providing a "visible and calm presence" for students.

"We understand that some people wanted to stay home. However, given that the university was open, recording their absence as annual leave ensures overall fairness to all staff."

Fair enough, you may say. Some went, why should the others get a free "day off". Especially because the threat came to nothing - though hindsight is a wonderful thing.

To me, it does seem a bit harsh. It wasn't an ordinary day. Those sort of threats don't happen every day in this country.

Students were not penalised for not coming to class so why the double standard for their teachers? They are people too, with families who want to keep them around. A Tertiary Education Union spokesman called the university's actions a "mean-spirited decision" and "punitive".

While I doubt the intention was to punish, the decision was, in my view, sorely lacking in plain old understanding and common sense.