The Free Speech Union (FSU) has urged the UK’s higher education watchdog to investigate a “political” campaign to oust Buckingham University’s vice-Chancellor for being too “Right-wing”.
As reported by The Telegraph, we’ve lodged a formal complaint with the Office for Students (OfS) following the decision by Buckingham’s governing body to suspend Professor James Tooley, who is well-known in academic circles for his fierce opposition to “cancel culture” and his defence of free speech. The report continues:
In a letter to the university regulator, the FSU claims that Prof Tooley’s suspension was prompted by a series of claims made by his wife, from whom he is in the process of divorcing.
“These allegations appear to be vexatious in nature and relate to Prof Tooley’s behaviour in the couple’s private life, e.g. that he keeps a toy gun in his bedside drawer,” the letter says.
The allegations from Prof Tooley’s ex-wife “have no bearing on his fitness to carry out his public role as vice-Chancellor of Buckingham” and should have been dismissed as “tittle-tattle”, the FSU say.
The FSU goes on to say that instead, Buckingham University’s governing body “immediately suspended Prof Tooley, placed him under investigation, kicked him out of his grace and favour accommodation, and set about destroying his reputation by telling Buckingham’s 3,000 students, as well as its staff, that he had been suspended and was under investigation following ‘a number of serious allegations’.”
The FSU says it is concerned that Prof Tooley has been humiliated in this way “because some members of the council [Buckingham University’s Council] disapprove of the various 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’ points of view and therefore beyond the pale”.
A close friend of Prof Tooley said: “He should never have been suspended. He should never have been unlawfully evicted from his home.
“The university should never have smeared his name, now more than once, in emails sent to all students and all staff. He should be reinstated immediately, receive a full apology, and those behind this attempted coup should resign in disgrace.”
In a separate letter to all the members of Buckingham University’s Council, a group of 37 peers say that Prof Tooley’s suspension was decided “seemingly on the basis of unproven allegations” and “appears entirely disproportionate”.
They go on to say: “What is more, we are concerned that the principles of a presumption of innocence and natural justice are being undermined by an ill-conceived disciplinary process, risking not only the reputation of Professor Tooley, but also the university itself.”
Lord Vinson, who was on the committee that set up the university 50 years ago, said he has requested a seat on the university’s board to ensure that its conduct is “different” going forwards.
“I think it’s important that the board really backs up the work of the vice-Chancellor,” he said. “James Tooley was doing a wonderful job in standing up for those who have aired their views on freedom of speech being important.”
A source close to Prof Tooley said that the FSU is right to demand an investigation into the “shocking, disproportionate and outrageous behaviour of a handful of woke extremists trying to mount an unwarranted coup against the Vice-Chancellor at Buckingham”.
A Buckingham University spokesperson said: “Although the process has been complicated by the number of allegations made, the University is absolutely certain about the integrity of the process followed and this has been verified by external legal counsel.”
