Secretary 'ordered to spy on head of crisis-torn university'

TROUBLED Abertay University has been rocked by fresh allegations that its acting principal ordered an executive secretary to "spy" on the leading academic he replaced in a "coup" at the Dundee institution.

Professor Nicholas Terry, appointed as acting principal at the university following the forcible retirement of veteran vice- chancellor Professor Bernard King, is alleged to have instructed secretary Janice Walker to keep a track of Prof King's movements and to report anything which suggested he was plotting again the University Court - the governing body which eventually effectively sacked him.

Other "grievance" letters made public yesterday also claim Prof Terry faced allegations of intimidation by two senior members of the academic staff, one claiming she was left in "a state of despair" by him while he was the principal's depute.

The latest allegations surfaced after Professor Philippe Baveye, a leading member of staff, last week broke months of silence by senior academics to launch a blistering attack on the court's decision to suspend Prof King, branding the university court as "amateurish, inept, incompetent and irresponsible".

He called for the resignation of Nigel Hawkins, chairman of the governing body, and the reinstatement of Prof King.

The university said yesterday that an independent inquiry found no evidence to support the claims, adding it was "absolutely outrageous" that confidential information had been leaked.

In her letter, raising a formal grievance against Prof Terry, Ms Walker, who is still employed by the university, claims that at a meeting last October, the then vice-principal told her that Prof King was not happy about retiring and that it would not be in the best interests of the university for the principal to be in conflict with the University Court.

The letter continues: "I was therefore ordered to report back on any movements of the principal's that suggested he might be 'plotting' against court.

"I felt extremely uneasy by the request to 'spy' on the principal. I have never felt so threatened and vulnerable, and have had many sleepless nights due to the pressure I felt under."

In the following weeks, according to Ms Walker, she was "often aggressively interrogated on a daily basis" regarding the principal's movements and telephone calls.

She states in the letter: "At times, I have felt as if a 'coup' was being put into operation against the principal."

Two other grievance letters - from Prof John Palfreyman, the head of the school of contemporary sciences, and Prof Rista Bateson, the pro vice-chancellor and the chair of higher education management - were also made public yesterday.

Prof Palfreyman remains a member of staff, but Prof Bateson, a graduate of Harvard, is due to leave her post later this month.

None of the three members of staff named as authors of the grievance letters could be contacted for comment yesterday.

A source at Abertay said: "Whoever leaked these letters obviously didn't care about the feelings of the three staff involved."

A university spokesman strenuously denied the allegations contained in the letters.