The University of Buckingham ‘snooped’ on staff emails in a bid to trace the source of a leak to The Telegraph about its vice-chancellor’s personal life, it has emerged.
Senior officials at the university, which has long been known for its commitment to free speech, admitted to conducting a “general trawl of emails” to determine whether academics had forwarded messages to journalists regarding Prof James Tooley, its ‘anti-woke’ vice-chancellor.
The search followed serious allegations made against Prof Tooley by his estranged wife, all of which he has since been cleared of. In a January memo to staff, university officials confirmed the claims were “not substantiated.” The allegations centred on his possession of a junior air rifle (legal without a firearms licence) and details of a past affair in India.
Prof Tooley told a University of Buckingham senate meeting on Wednesday that he will now investigate claims of staff email surveillance.
The Telegraph has the story:
It came after senior university officials falsely accused one academic of leaking the memo confirming that Prof Tooley had been exonerated, The Telegraph has learnt.
Buckingham’s head of HR also admitted that the university authorised a search of all staff emails to determine the source of the disclosure and suggested that other academics may also have been accused of sharing information.
It marks the latest episode in an alleged power tussle at the university, after senior officials were accused of orchestrating a politically-motivated coup against Prof Tooley to try to oust him over his Right-wing views.
Under English law, employers can monitor employees’ emails in some circumstances if they are using university-provided email accounts for work purposes. However, this is subject to compliance with various pieces of legislation including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Human Rights Act 1998.
Monitoring must be proportionate, necessary and lawful, and universities must have a clear justification for searching emails, such as for security purposes or to check staff are complying with in-house policies.
Academics at the university described the incident as chilling and claimed the actions ran against the institution’s founding principles.
“The people involved clearly are not imbued in any way with the values of the university’s tradition,” one Buckingham academic told The Telegraph.
“The feeling among academics is certainly one of hostility – you know, feeling pretty invaded by this. This is really a violation of trust with the administration and certainly a violation of academic freedom.”
Another said: “This clandestine email-snooping by the administration, echoing Stasi-era surveillance tactics, is a flagrant assault on academic freedom and has no place in a university setting.”
There’s more on this story here.
