IPM planning to file lawsuit against whistleblower

Quartermain (left) pictured during a February 2016 event at IPM, where he is describing the Bell Centre activities to members of the City University of Macau

The Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) is reportedly planning to file a lawsuit against the former deputy director of the institute’s Bell Centre of English after he leaked accusations of malpractice and negligence occurring regularly at the university to the Times.

“We are going to submit a formal accusation against Dr. David Quartermain in relation to his comments,” said IPM President Lei Heong Iok, according to local media. “His unfounded accusations have publicly tarnished our image. We reserve the right to assert juridical responsibility.”

Lei said the comments were “negligent and made with bad faith.” He also said the comments “had a very negative impact among teachers and students.”

Quartermain was an employee at IPM between 2003 and 2018, holding the post of deputy director at the institute’s Bell Centre of English from 2005 until December 2016, after which he was transferred to the Gaming Teaching and Research Centre.

Speaking to the Times last week, Quartermain described a pattern of malpractice and negligence at the university, including the absence of performance reviews for professors, poor student assessment, cases of cheating and even sexual harassment.

IPM responded to the allegations with a statement issued on Tuesday and organized a press conference on Friday afternoon with just 20 minutes notice.

The statement issued by IPM said that the whistleblower, Quartermain, was not a professor, or even a part of the full-time faculty.

Describing Quartermain’s complaints as “ungrounded,” IPM said that the former employee did not provide an accurate description of the work conducted at the Gaming Teaching and Research Centre. The institute said that Quartermain was asked to work a total of 36 hours per week, divided over a range of tasks that included revising and proofreading English manuscripts.

When questioned by the Times about Lei’s remarks that he was a mere instructor, Quartermain claimed that he was a full-time member of the university’s academic staff and that he has the contracts to prove it.

He also contested the idea that there was regular work when he was working for the Gaming Teaching and Research Centre and says that over the course of 18 months he “spent no more than two hours, in total, revising and proofreading manuscripts.”

Regarding Quartermain’s complaints of inappropriate behavior noticed at the university, Lei mentioned during the press conference that those complaints “are about a North American English instructor and an assistant. They exchanged e-mails and there was an inappropriate word used. It is merely based on this that David Quartermain made the accusation. I would like you to judge: Is this really sexual harassment?” As quoted by TDM, Lei also said that IPM investigated the case after being asked to do so by the teacher.