Swansea University registrar Andrew Rhodes has spoken out over a concerted campaign of vindictive and unfounded attacks against him, through anonymous emails and social media trolls, following the suspensions of senior academics including former vice-chancellor Richard B Davies.
As mandated in his role, Mr Rhodes raised concerns over the conduct of senior staff just months after joining the university from a senior Whitehall civil servant role in the spring of last year. This prompted a thorough internal investigation, sanctioned by the university’s governing council.
That in turn led to the suspensions of four academics last November for alleged gross misconduct. As well as Prof Davies, they included the dean of the university’s School of Management Professor Marc Clement. At the time both vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
Following the appointment of an independent QC as the investigating manager, a seven-month process culminated in a disciplinary panel sacking both Prof Davies and Prof Clement for gross misconduct in July. Last month Steven Poole, who worked under Prof Clement, was also sacked for gross misconduct.
The dismissals were linked to the proposed £200m Wellness Village project in Llanelli. The university is no longer involved in the project, which was seeking £40m in backing from the Swansea Bay City Deal. Last month the regional crime unit for southern Wales, Tarian, searched eight properties as part of an alleged bribery investigation into the procurement process for the project.
At the annual Council for Advancement and Support of Education conference in Birmingham, Mr Rhodes spoke of a relentless campaign against him in the form of anonymous emails, signed only “Your Friend”, sent to university staff, council members, AMs and other stakeholders, along with trolls on social media, which he described as being orchestrated “deliberately to tear me down”.
The unfounded allegations, which he said at one stage were a daily occurrence, claimed the suspensions were fuelled by his desire to become vice-chancellor and “destroy the university”. The emails also accused him of being a “psychopath” and even being responsible for the “death of a colleague.”
As registrar, Mr Rhodes is responsible for investigating any claims of impropriety, misconduct or negligence against university employees.
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He said of the emails and trolls: “Following the suspensions, they were coming every day at one point, making all sorts of allegations. A lot of them were directed at me personally; I had made myself a lightning rod, I was the one running the process, I was the one who had instigated this, so that was to be expected.”
Despite the intense pressure, he said he had done the right thing in line with his duties as the university’s registrar, with the suspensions and subsequent hearings following the ordinances of the university to the letter.
Despite this, Plaid Cymru AM Helen Mary Jones claimed in the Senedd that there had been “no due process.”
In his leaked grievance letter to the university’s council following his suspension, Prof Davies alleged Mr Rhodes was seeking to “seize the position of vice-chancellor” – even though he would have been ineligible for the post as he came from an non-academic career background.
Mr Rhodes said: “This experience is why people don’t whistleblow. If I had looked the other way, I believe the university would have been exposed to severe harm. I think it is incumbent on people to do the right thing, even when it’s very difficult.”
The Neath-born registrar described the steps the university took to manage the crisis – including handing the investigation and disciplinary process to an external and independent QC, as well as being open with key funders, regulators and stakeholders – as exemplary. He said it had only made the university stronger under its new vice-chancellor Paul Boyle.
The university even had to reassure former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who had lent her name to the university’s law school.
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Mr Rhodes said: “She has got a hell of a lot of experience of people making allegations that don’t stack up, so she was really quite understanding.”
The university also had to reassure former US presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, who has lent her name to the university’s law school.
Mr Rhodes said: “She has got a hell of a lot of experience of people making allegations that don’t stack up, so she was really quite understanding."
It is understood that Prof Davies, Prof Clement and Mr Poole have lodged appeals following their dismissals by the disciplinary panel.
Swansea University said: “Our process is continuing as set down in university ordinances, but we are not able to comment on individual appeals.”
A fourth member of staff, Bjorn Rodde, who was suspended back in November, subsequently resigned.
Fellow colleague in the School of Management, Paul Roberts, who was the university’s lead for regional development health and wellbeing, was suspended in February, pending an investigation into allegations of dishonesty and seeking to mislead the university concerning his involvement in certain projects.
However, he resigned with immediate effect last month after his grievance claim was rejected in its entirety.