A De Montfort University department leader faces disciplinary action for bringing the institution 'into disrepute' after he blamed managers for an accreditation fiasco, says Phil Baty
De Montfort University's head of psychology has been suspended over charges of "bringing the university into disrepute" after he circulated strong criticisms of managers to his departmental colleagues, which were leaked to The Times Higher .
We reported last week that Tony Cassidy, who has been told he could be sacked for "gross misconduct", had e-mailed all staff in his department to inform them that their undergraduate psychology course was about to lose its accreditation from the British Psychological Society.
He blamed Gillian Grant, his faculty dean, and Dave Ward, the head of the School of Applied Sciences, for failing to properly fund the psychology department.
Professor Cassidy also accused them of overstating staffing levels and correctly predicted that the faculty would pre-empt the withdrawal of accreditation by the BPS by announcing that it had voluntarily pulled out of its arrangement with the society.
In his e-mail, Professor Cassidy said: "I find it totally unacceptable that the excellent course which we deliver should be put under threat like this."
Seven of the 20 staff in psychology have been nominated by their students for "distinguished teaching" awards.
Professor Cassidy's concerns were largely vindicated this week by the BPS, which confirmed that its Graduate Qualifications Accreditation Committee met last week and "decided that accreditation for the BSc human psychology course at De Montfort University will be withdrawn for the 2006-07 cohort (starting autumn 2006)".
The BPS would not confirm its reasons, but a letter obtained by The Times Higher shows that the society had warned the dean in early March that it had "serious concerns about the resourcing of your provision", including the "possible overestimate of staffing".
The BPS requires there to be at least one member of academic staff for every 20 students before it will accredit any degree courses.
The university wrote to staff and students on April 19 confirming, as Professor Cassidy had predicted, that after "careful consideration" it had decided to withdraw from BPS accreditation, to provide greater flexibility over staffing, and that this "is in no way related to any aspects of programme quality".
In response, Professor Cassidy circulated another e-mail to his psychology colleagues saying that the decision to pull out of accreditation before it was withdrawn was "the most ridiculous decision I have ever encountered".
The e-mail, addressed to Professor Ward, the head of school, said: "The BPS were about to withdraw accreditation because DMU failed to honour the resource commitment...
"To state that there is any benefit from withdrawing from accreditation reflects a total lack of understanding of psychology education and will convince neither staff nor students... to say that there is no relationship to programme quality is inaccurate.
"Inadequate resources do put the quality of the programme at risk."
Professor Cassidy, who could not be contacted this week, has told staff that he has been suspended under the disciplinary procedures while the university investigates two key charges - that he sent an e-mail to colleagues against the wishes of the head of school, and that he may have alerted The Times Higher to the problem.
It is understood that a group of staff in the department of psychology is preparing a complaint to the vice-chancellor about the treatment of Professor Cassidy.
The university said that it had a policy not to comment on staffing issues.