Macquarie University has confirmed it is investigating a sexual harassment complaint amid reports a female tutor is being bullied by students and had photographs taken up her skirt.

The dean of the Macquarie law school, Natalie Klein, sent an email to staff and students saying there had been allegations of bullying of teaching staff, according to the Daily Telegraph.

“I am both concerned and angry to have heard that there are issues of sexual harassment, bullying, upskirting and defamatory communications occurring among students in relation to the Law School’s teaching staff,” she wrote.

“This conduct is completely unacceptable within the Macquarie Law School community and it should not be the type of community that you as law students would want to be creating or be part of at the outset of your degree.”

Guardian Australia understands the complaint relates to a cohort of male students and allegations that photos were taken up the skirt of at least one female teacher.

“There have been some rumours going around before this about a group but a lot of us were shocked about how serious it seems when we got the email,” one student said. “Some of the female students are worried that maybe there are photos of them that they don’t know about.”

Klein urged students to report the names of people involved in the harassment, saying students needed to recognise their fellow students would become their peers in the legal profession.

Macquarie University has released a two-line statement confirming the investigation.

“Macquarie University takes allegations of sexual harassment extremely seriously, because the safety and welfare of our staff and students are paramount,” a spokeswoman said. “However, it would be inappropriate to comment further as an internal investigation is under way.”



