There are growing calls for an emergency meeting of the University of the Highlands and Islands foundation in the wake of allegations of mismanagement by UHI chief executive Brian Duffield.
Eric Gibson, secretary of the Pounds 100 million project to establish a university, has issued a statement praising Professor Duffield's "dynamic leadership" and denying that there have been staff complaints about the effectiveness of the internal grievance procedure.
But academic adviser Sir Graham Hills, former principal of Strathclyde University, has warned there is widely believed to be "an orchestrated cover-up".
The Highland Council is to set up a committee to investigate the project's progress.