Four years ago Dr James Going was told he had an untreatable cancer with months to live.

He spent the next few days trying to come to terms with his prognosis but on the fifth day he received a call to say further tests had revealed he was suffering from an aggressive lymphoma that was likely to respond well to chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The experience, he says, “opened his eyes to things to which I had been blind” including the discrimination he says women are continuing to experience in major institutions.

Last week the University of Glasgow issued an apology to staff and students after an inquiry identified “sexist and discriminatory” behaviour within the medical school.

Professor Matthew Walters, head of the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing said an action plan was being drawn up following, “unacceptable and distressing incidents”.

Dr Going resigned from his teaching post a week earlier saying a “culture of misogyny was flourishing” within the institution. 

The university responded saying his contract to teach as an associate clinical professor had ended last year.

The Herald:

In fact, he had been continuing to teach third year medical students until October 14.

“It was quite obvious that the university had no intention of doing anything about this,” said Dr Going, "and I could see very clearly what a detrimental effect it was having on people I like and respect.

"Women are being sidelined, undermined and ignored. 

“I would say the university’s position on this has been, let’s pretend nothing is happening and it will all go away.

“I think they have been completely spineless.

READ MORE: Senior academic at centre of gendered bullying probe to leave university 

“This is not just an idle hobby for my declining years, it’s a passionate belief that women are frequently unfairly treated in major organisations.

“The haematologist who kept me alive is a woman, the radiotherapist who planned and directed by radiotherapy was a woman.

“It is an outrage that women in 2022 are still being treated as second class.”

Dr Going, who is a pathologist at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, says he first raised concerns about the treatment of female staff within the medical faculty in December last year. 

The Herald:

He said: “That’s nearly a year ago. I wrote a letter about one of the people who has been very adversely affected by these behaviours.

“It was the usual, ‘we take these matters very seriously and everything is being done that should be done.’”

A grievance lodged by staff about the conduct of Professor John Paul Leach, head of undergraduate medicine, was upheld by the university but was later appealed.

Prof Leach, told The Herald that a subsequent inquiry found “there was no case to answer”. It was announced last week he is to leave his post within weeks. Medical students said to have found this out in media reports. 

READ MORE: University leaders 'sorry' for distressing sexism 

The women involved in the grievance were told the content must remain confidential.

Dr Going has his own views on culpability but does not want to compromise the staff who were affected.

The Herald:

He said: “They [the university] said something which is frankly ridiculous, which is, that they have had an investigation into this and the inquiry has found that no individual was culpable.

“Yet, we are very very sorry.

“It’s a wonderfully ambiguous piece of formulation because it could mean nobody has been responsible or it is just as likely to mean, that multiple people have been responsible.

“There are different kinds of complicity in this sort of thing,he said.

"There are the key people who behave in this way and my feeling is they behave this way because it’s the way they are wired up mentally.

“The problem is, they are surrounded by others who should be saying, ‘that behaviour is not acceptable’.

“You’ve got people [within the university] who have got that power.”

READ MORE: Glasgow medical student was told she 'should do a secretarial course'

The university has said a new oversight group is being set up to devise an action plan which will make improvements “where necessary” with enhanced training for staff.

“They don’t need more policies,” said Dr Going who lives in Giffnock. “They don’t need more committees but what they do need is people in senior management positions to actually do the job, which would be to not put up with behaviours that should not be put up with.

“I’m sorry to say this because I had the pleasure of working with some marvellous people but I also had the less pleasurable experience of watching some very questionable people flourishing because they were allowed to.

“I just feel that the university has learned nothing from a whole bunch of negative experiences that other organisations have gone through where essentially they have covered up bad behaviour.

“Eventually it does get out.
“I’ve got a daughter, I’ve got a granddaughter - the idea that they will come across this...I’m not going to stand by.”

Prof Matthew Walters, Head of the School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing at the University of Glasgow, said: “The wellbeing of everyone in our community will always be our prime concern, and we are committed to ensuring that all staff and students in the University and its Medical School feel safe, supported and free from discrimination or abuse of any kind.

“Following concerns over gender-based bullying and discrimination within the Undergraduate Medical School we launched an internal investigation. While no individuals were found culpable, behaviours were uncovered that fell short of our high professional expectations.”