The University of Buckingham’s ‘Vice-Chancellor, Professor James Tooley, was suspended a couple of weeks ago after a number of unspecified allegations were made against him. He has since dismissed those allegations, which originated with his estranged wife, as “baseless and malicious”.
“Now the one British university unambiguous in championing free speech is at risk of being muzzled,” writes Daniel Lord Hannan for the Telegraph. Here’s an extract:
There are 160 Left-leaning universities in this country, and there is Buckingham. And it has become clear over the past two weeks that having even one anti-woke holdout is unacceptable to elements of the higher education establishment.
Nestled in a fold of the River Ouse, Buckingham was established half a century ago precisely to be a place where liberty of expression and academic enquiry were non-negotiable. Free speech would not be subordinated to the imagined sensitivities of approved minorities. Conservative academics would not have to learn to keep their heads down.
“Your initiative is there to remind us about important features of freedom which we have been in danger of forgetting,” said Margaret Thatcher at the university’s inauguration in 1976.
Buckingham bloomed, a colourful wildflower in the wheatfield of state-funded universities. The Iron Lady herself went on to serve as its Chancellor in the 1990s.
All of which, naturally, annoyed Blobsters. But nothing wound them up as much as the appointment as vice-chancellor in 2020 of the classical liberal educationalist, Dr James Tooley. A mild and courteous man, Tooley has been true to the Buckingham’s founding ideals, bringing in several leading academics who were uncomfortable with cancel culture.
Just over two weeks ago, the university authorities evicted their vice-chancellor, not over allegations of professional shortcomings, but because they decided, in effect, to take sides in a marital break-up.
At 9pm on a Friday, an email went out to staff and students, informing them that their vice-chancellor had been suspended over unspecified “serious allegations”. Dr Tooley was given two hours to vacate his home, which came with the job – all without the slightest idea of what he was supposed to have done.
Eventually, things became clear. His wife, from whom he has separated, had accused him of coercive and unreasonable behaviour, including keeping an unlicensed firearm on the premises. When the university sent the police to investigate, they found that the supposed firearm was a child’s air pistol, no more in need of a licence than a Nerf gun.
That, in a sane world, would have been that. He should have been reinstated there and then.
Instead, some members of the university council decided that they needed to investigate further. Perhaps they know something else against Tooley, something they are keeping to themselves.
Or perhaps it was simply the cowardice that almost all public bodies are prone to – though Buckingham, of all places, should uphold the principles of natural justice, proportionality, and the presumption of innocence.
Or perhaps his opponents were grabbing at any club with which to belabour him. Perhaps this was less about his marital misfortunes than about the fact that he was making Buckingham successful precisely by attracting refugees from woke institutions.
Buckingham University was not explicitly Right-wing, but it was explicitly pro-freedom, which nowadays amounts to much the same thing. Yet despite its origins, its governing body now seems to attract the same corporatist do-gooders as any other large charity, public company, or quango.
Glancing at the online biographies of its most recent appointees, I see that one works on sustainability, one is interested in “getting more women into leadership roles”, another has a background in “Disability Action and LGBTQ+ and hopes his passion in these areas can contribute to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion at the University”, and another “has a particular passion for enabling those from diverse backgrounds to progress in the world of work”.
All perfectly worthy goals, and I’m sure they are charming people. But might such backgrounds predispose them to see Tooley, not as a mainstream (if unusually able and intelligent) free-marketeer, but rather as a nasty Right-winger whose obsession with free speech makes minorities feel unsafe?
Let’s not lose sight of what has happened here. A marriage has fallen apart, as sometimes happens. But, on this occasion, the employers of one partner have, in effect, sided with the other. Instead of allowing the vice-chancellor to remain at work, as the presumption of innocence would suggest, it has removed him while conducting a lengthy investigation – an investigation which is bound to become more reputationally harmful the longer it goes on.
It is a common tactic, sadly. The process becomes the punishment. Sometimes, the accused resigns out of nervous exhaustion. Sometimes, even when he is wholly vindicated, he finds it impossible to return to his job.
Worth reading in full.
Prof Tooley is a member of the FSU, and we have reached out to him to offer any help he needs during the university’s lengthy investigation.
We have also written to Dr Arif Ahmed, the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the Office for Students, asking him to investigate the behaviour of Buckingham’s governing body.
In the meantime, please do share and sign this petition, which urges the university council to reassess Quilter’s decision to suspend Prof Tooley and initiate an immediate recall and reinstatement. Organised by a Visiting Lecturer in Buckingham’s Humanities and Social Sciences department, Dr Adekunle Osibogun, the petition states:
“We believe in the principles of due process and fairness in all actions, values that are at the core of our academic community. Unfortunately, these principles were blatantly ignored in the action taken against our Vice-Chancellor. This unpreceded suspension raises concerns and questions about the equity and fairness of the process, such that an independent inquiry agreed by both the University and the Vice-Chancellor will be required to thoroughly test the allegations.”
You can sign the petition here.
