In a possible cheering sign that the cancel-culture tide may be turning, the pro-free speech Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham has been cleared of all wrongdoing and reinstated, following his controversial suspension last year.
On 11th October, Professor James Tooley – well-known for his free-speech campaigning and anti-woke views – was called into an “urgent” meeting by Mark Qualter, chair of the university’s governing body, known as the Council. There, he was told he was being suspended because he’d been accused of something “serious”, and given two hours to vacate his grace-and-favour house and leave the campus He was not, however, told what the accusation was.
Mr Quilty emailed Buckingham’s staff and students the same day to announce the suspension on the grounds that “a number of serious allegations” had been made against Prof Tooley, but with the allegations again remaining unspecified. They turned out to have come from his estranged wife Cynthia whom was in the process of divorcing – and to consist of the possession of a junior air rifle, which does not require a firearms licence, and a previous relationship with a woman in India.
No wonder that suspicions were soon raised that the suspension was motivated by hostility to Prof Tooley’s views as a staunch free-speech advocate who’d spoken out publicly against the ‘cancel culture’ he believed had taken root across British campuses.
In late October, the FSU wrote to the Office for Students saying that the allegations “appear to be vexatious in nature”, “have no bearing on his fitness to carry out his role as Vice-Chancellor” and should have been dismissed as “tittle-tattle”.
We also expressed our concern that Prof Tooley had been humiliated in this way “because some members of the Council disapprove of the public interventions he has made in defence of free speech and the history and heritage of Great Britain, which, in their eyes, are ‘right-wing’ and therefore beyond the pale”.
Our view of the case was shared by many Buckingham academics. In December, a group of senior lecturers and senate members wrote a legal letter calling for the suspension to be “immediately lifted”. It had, they suggested, been fuelled by a “history of animosity between the chair of council and the vice-chancellor” and due process had not been followed.
According to one academic, the university had pounced on the allegations against Prof Tooley “as a means of damaging him and forcing through because they don’t like him. They think he’s too libertarian, too Thatcherite, too right-wing.”
Happily – if unsurprisingly – these allegations have now been found to be “not substantiated”. In a memo sent to staff on Tuesday evening, the Council confirmed that an independent report had discovered no evidence of wrongdoing, and that Prof Tooley’s suspension has been overturned with immediate effect.
The university has not made public the full report, which is understood to run to 85 pages. It was overseen by Joseph O’Brien KC, who was appointed to lead the independent investigation into the allegations against Prof Tooley last autumn.
A University of Buckingham spokesman said: “The university was made aware of a number of serious allegations involving our Vice-Chancellor. The nature of the allegations were [sic] such that the university had to investigate them and we took the decision to suspend the Vice-Chancellor, a neutral act pending the outcome of the investigation.
“The report found that the allegations were not substantiated, and after consideration by Council the suspension has been brought to an end.”
While we of course welcome Prof Tooley’s reinstatement, some troubling questions clearly remain to be answered about the university’s handling of the case.
More on the story here.
