OXFORD University has been accused of creating a ‘culture of cover-ups’ where students are told to ‘keep quiet’.

A student, who has asked to remain anonymous, has raised concerns with how misconduct reports are handled at the prestigious institution and are calling for the complaints process to be externally regulated.

The student made an official complaint to the university’s Humanities Faculty after she claimed that she was bullied, smeared, and defamed by a member of staff in the History Faculty.

The University has said a ‘detailed investigation’ concluded that ‘none of the student’s allegations should be upheld’.

The woman said the university’s complaint process was ‘completely unfit for purpose’.

After raising some initial concerns about the way the History Faculty was run, the student said she was ‘victimized and defamed’ by members of staff who had a ‘legal duty of care’ towards students.

The student then threatened the Professor, who was allegedly defaming her, with a cease-and-desist letter.

Following this, the student said the university threatened her with disciplinary action if she did not go through the formal complaints process.

This led to the student making a formal complaint – she was told the process would take ‘no more than two months’, however it ended up taking 10.

She said: “It is a complete waste of time and energy – it is only meant to quash your complaint, shut you up and whitewash the institution.

“It is a culture of cover-ups, it’s all in the Twilight Zone.”

The student claimed that the university had created an environment where ‘cronyism’ is favoured and staff protect each other.

She added: “They are all friends, and they are all mates – they all cover up for each other and I am just the idiot there to pay my fees and keep quiet.”

The student hoped detailing her experience with the university may help other, younger students, who may not feel as comfortable speaking out.

She added: “Internal regulation [at the University] is non-existent.

“If there is no external regulation, this will go on.”

Oxford City Councillor, Shaista Aziz, who is a national campaigner on equalities and women’s rights, said the university needed to ‘implement clear accountability structure for complaints across all Oxford colleges’.

She added: “The University of Oxford like many institutions claims it wants to investigate complaints in a fair, open, and transparent manner - this student's experience suggests otherwise.

“For a complaints process to work, it needs to be independent and protect both parties who are making the complaint until the complaint has been investigated thoroughly without any outside interference. However, the power imbalances at work must be acknowledged.”

A spokesperson for Oxford University said: “The University has carried out a detailed investigation, by a senior member of staff independent of the Department concerned, which concluded that none of the student’s allegations should be upheld.

“The University always treats seriously all allegations of harassment, or other student complaints, and follows complaints processes designed in line with the guidance for the University sector.

“The complaints process is actively publicised to students, and student representatives are consulted on University decisions about policies and procedures that affect them.

“The University cannot comment further on the confidential circumstances of an individual student case.”