After a punishing, four-month long investigation, James Tooley has finally been allowed to resume his position as vice-chancellor at the University of Buckingham. The KC hired by Buckingham to scrutinize Tooley’s personal affairs concluded that all accusations against him were without substance. Critics claim that this was evident from the very beginning.
Regular readers may recall that Tooley was initially suspended from his position at the private university back in October. In a Kafkaesque sequence of events, he was called to an emergency meeting where he was informed of serious but undisclosed allegations against him, which necessitated his immediate suspension.
As if that was not enough, Tooley was also evicted from his university-provided accommodation, and security guards were posted outside the house – just in case the 65-year-old professor should decide to roll up his sleeves and force his way back into his home. An administrator at Buckingham also saw fit to share the news of Tooley’s suspension due to the “serious allegations” with every student and staff member of the university.
The allegations turned out to be less serious than alleged. Reporting by the Daily Mail revealed that they originated with Tooley’s estranged wife – a possibly unreliable source of information. Indeed, they turned out to have no relation to Tooley’s professional conduct at all. The most serious accusation concerned an allegedly unlicensed firearm that Tooley, according to his wife, kept in his bedside table. This piece of contraband turned out to be a perfectly legal air pistol.
Nevertheless, the University Council maintained Tooley’s suspension, insisting that a full investigation into the allegations had to be carried out. The independent counsel concluded last week that there was no wrongdoing, allowing Tooley to finally return to his job. The news was released to staff and students on Tuesday.
The email about Tooley’s reinstatement defended the inquiry, saying that the “nature of the allegations were such that the university had to investigate them and we took the decision to suspend the vice-chancellor, a natural act pending the outcome of the investigation”. We may wonder. An in-depth report published in the Daily Mail last October revealed that several people close to the case regarded the suspension as an instance of cynical opportunism. They alleged that a group of Tooley’s political enemies within the institution had wanted to get rid of him for a while, and used the allegations from his wife as an excuse to oust him.
These rumours have not been proven, but regardless of whether they are true, the members of the Council who suspended Tooley clearly acted unprofessionally. The accusations arose from a very messy domestic dispute and did not pertain to Tooley’s ability to do his job. The protracted investigation undoubtedly caused Tooley a significant amount of harm, psychological and reputational. Among other things, it allowed many of the roughly 4000 students at Buckingham to think that he had done something seriously wrong.
Diana Blamires, a former head of PR at Buckingham, told the Times that it is “an absolute travesty that James was put through four months of hell. The allegations were unfounded and I hope the people responsible for this pay for what they have done”.
Tooley’s return will surely cause some awkward encounters around the Buckingham campus. According to Toby Young, the head of the Free Speech Union of which Tooley is a member, the expectation amongst Tooley’s allies is that “the half-dozen people at the university who’ve put him through this trial will now have to resign”.
We may never know if this really was a politically motivated coup against Tooley or simply an overreaction to silly accusations. However, the independent counsel’s complete exoneration of Tooley is a strong reminder to treat mere allegations with a healthy dose of scepticism.