The Joel Hayward Working Party was established in May 2000 after complaints from the New Zealand Jewish Council (NZJC) about the 1993 master's thesis of Dr Joel Hayward entitled "The Fate of Jews in German Hands".
The Jewish Council claimed that the thesis denied the Holocaust and caused great distress to the Jewish community. The Council of the University established the Working Party to investigate the circumstances in which the degree of Master of Arts (with first class honours) came to be awarded by the University in 1993 to Dr Hayward.
The independent working party was established by the University of Canterbury Council in April 2000 to investigate the circumstances in which Dr Joel Hayward was awarded a master of arts degree with first-class honours in 1993 after submitting his thesis, entitled "The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry Into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism".
Retired High Court judge The Hon. Sir Ian Barker of Auckland chaired the three-member working party during its six-month-long investigation. Sir Ian was a High Court judge for 21 years and a former chancellor of the University of Auckland, a position he held from 1991 to 1999.
Sir Ian was assisted by:
Emeritus Professor Anne Trotter of Wellington, a historian and former assistant vice-chancellor (humanities) at the University of Otago.
Professor Stuart Macintyre of Melbourne, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne and Ernest Scott Professor of History.
4 May 2000
1991 Joel Hayward enrols in a Master of Arts (MA) degree in the Department of History at the University of Canterbury.
4 March 1993 Joel Hayward submits his MA thesis entitled: "The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism."
28 April 1993 Joel Hayward embargoes his MA thesis for three years.
7 May 1993 Joel Hayward's MA (first-class honours) conferred.
5 November 1996 Joel Hayward requests the university librarian extend the embargo.
1 January 1999 Embargo expires. Joel Hayward's thesis becomes public.
8 December 1999 Joel Hayward writes to the Vice Chancellor Professor Daryl Le Grew requesting his thesis be withdrawn from the University library.
26 January 2000 Dean of Postgraduate Studies Professor Graeme Wake writes to Joel Hayward declining his request for the library to withdraw the thesis but invites him to attach an addendum to the thesis.
4 April 2000 The Jewish Council writes to the University Chancellor Dame Phyllis Guthardt requesting the University revoke Joel Hayward's MA degree.
26 April 2000 The University Council calls for an independent investigation into the circumstances in which Joel Hayward was awarded a Master of Arts degree (with first-class honours) in 1993.
15 May 2000 The University of Canterbury announces the terms of reference and members of the independent working party established to investigate Joel Hayward's master's thesis.
18 December 2000 The University Council receives the Hayward Thesis Report from the independent working party.
20 December 2000 The University Council releases the Hayward Thesis Report to the public.
Dr Joel Hayward is currently a senior lecturer and programme co-ordinator for defence and strategic studies at Massey University - http://www.massey.ac.nz - Palmerston North, New Zealand.
He is a military historian and analyst with an interest in theoretical and conceptual aspects of modern warfare, including airpower and joint doctrines and the theoretical foundation of both German Blitzkrieg and contemporary manoeuvre warfare.
Dr Hayward also lectures at the New Zealand Army's Officer Cadet School (OCS) and Military Studies Institute (MSI) and the Royal New Zealand Air Force's Command and Staff College (RNZAF CSC).
Dr Hayward received his Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees from the University of Canterbury. His BA was conferred in 1991, his MA (first-class honours) in 1993 and his PhD in 1996.
His PhD thesis title: "Seeking the Philosopher's Stone: Luftwaffe Operations during Hitler's Drive to the East, 1942 -1943."
His MA thesis title: "The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism."
Dr Vincent Orange of the Department of History at the University of Canterbury was the supervisor appointed in 1991 to oversee Joel Hayward's MA thesis.
A Reader in History (a university lecturer of the highest grade below professor), Dr Orange joined the Department of History at the University of Canterbury in 1962. He is highly regarded and an eminent scholar of many years standing.
Dr Orange holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Hull, England, and is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (MRAeS).
Dr Orange teaches medieval and 20th century European history at the University of Canterbury and specialises in air power history and the military, naval and air aspects of the world wars. He has published six books, five of which are biographies of airmen.
Professor John Jensen, formerly of the Department of History, University of Waikato, was the external examiner of the Hayward Thesis.