James Tooley, the vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham, was suspended two weeks ago under highly unusual circumstances. Although the ‘serious allegations’ against the VC were at first kept secret, including from Tooley himself, it has now emerged that they originated with his estranged wife, and related to his character rather than his professional conduct.
The story first made headlines when students and staff at the University of Buckingham received an email from the chair of University’s council Mark St John Qualter, informing them that Professor Tooley had “been suspended following a number of serious allegations”. Qualter went on to urge students to “refrain from contacting the vice-chancellor on this or any other matter.” The message made no mention of what the accusations against Tooley were, and students were left to guess at just how serious they might be.
As it turns out, Tooley was equally in the dark about the the situation. According to the Free Speech Union, he was summoned to Qualter’s office for an “urgent” meeting. In a scene reminiscent of countless Title IX allegations on US campuses, Tooley was informed that he had been suspended due to “serious” accusations, but not what the allegations were, nor who had made them.
Although the allegations were secret, any observer would have concluded that they must be very serious, as Tooley was given a mere two hours to leave campus and vacate his university-provided residence Ondaatje Hall. To further underline the point, Tooley was also instructed not to return without explicit permission, and security guards were reportedly placed outside his front door to prevent his return.
Following this Kafkaesque sequence of events, the Council has now acknowledged that Tooley’s eviction from Ondaatje Hall was unlawful, and have magnanimously allowed him back into his own home. The ordeal was not over though, as an update from the University’s interim co-head Harriet Dubar-Morris explained that a “thorough and impartial investigation” was now underway.
Tooley issued a statement through his solicitors at Griffin Law, which characterised the allegations as “baseless and malicious”, adding that he looked “forward to being vindicated in due course”. However, in accordance with the University’s official processes, he explained that “I am unable to comment further at this time.”
Since then, we have learnt more about the allegations against Tooley thanks to reporting by the Daily Mail, which revealed that all of them came from Tooley’s estranged wife. The two are currently in the middle of a messy divorce, and she had apparently made a number of accusations against him, the most serious of which was that Tooley had an unlicenced firearm in the house.
However, when the police investigated this claim, it turned out that the firearm in question was an air pistol, which is perfectly legal. Indeed, the Thames Valley Police confirmed to the Daily Mail that “[o]fficers investigated [Tooley’s home], and it was deemed that no crime had been committed.”
This should have been the end of the whole affair. Instead, the Council has sustained Tooley’s suspension and is continuing with its investigation. What exactly is to be investigated is now more obscure than ever. Sure, Tooley’s soon-to-be ex-wife also accused him of unreasonable behaviour, but this alone is not sufficient grounds for an outright suspension by his employer. Giving credence to a spouse’s non-criminal allegations with no connections to Tooley’s professional conduct looks like picking sides in a divorce, which is a strange thing for a university council to do.
The Council at Buckingham has handled these matters very poorly, and this has led some to speculate that there may be another agenda behind its actions. The Daily Mail quotes a person close to Tooley as saying that “[s]everal of them [the members of the Council] have been trying to force James out”, adding that the “ridiculous claim that he was keeping an illegal gun provided them with an excuse to sideline him, and that’s exactly what they have done.”
Writing in the Telegraph, former MEP Lord Daniel Hannan raised the possibility that the final straw for the Council was a proposal to hire the writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali as the first Margaret Thatcher Chair for the Constitution of Liberty at Buckingham. Similarly, one person from the University told the Daily Mail that some members of Council were opposed to this appointment “on the grounds they think her [Ali’s] attacks on Islamism will lead to people calling the university racist”.
Regardless of whether the Council’s actions can be explained by political opposition to Tooley, it is clear that they have handled his suspension in an extremely unprofessional manner, which may even be in breach of their own rules. The University of Buckingham Charter states that the vice-chancellor or other officers may be removed “after due consideration” by the Council. However, it appears that the 20-member Council did not actually meet until three days after Tooley’s suspension had already been enacted and publicly announced.
Despite the Daily Mail reaching out the several members of the Council, including Lord Peter Lilley, former police chief Sir Francis Habgood, and secretary of the Council Sam Weston, no one wanted to explain this apparent breach of the rules. The University’s PR department also declined to comment on the issue.
James Tooley deserves due process at the University of Buckingham, and the way the Council has treated him so far is shameful. He is understandably considering legal action against the University. As a friend of Tooley’s told the Daily Mail, “James wants his job back, and his home back, a grovelling public apology, and the payment of his already hefty costs”.