An under-fire Fife college principal has vowed not to be hounded out by ongoing allegations of bullying and mismanagement levied against him and senior members of staff.
Dr Craig Thomson, head of Adam Smith College, said he was ”100% behind his staff” and branded the actions of those behind an online campaign against him and other colleagues as ”despicable” also suggesting the situation is threatening to detract from the good work going on at the institution.
Dr Thomson was speaking as the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) continues its investigation into claims that a culture of bullying has been allowed to develop at Scotland’s third-largest college.
In an exclusivre interview with The Courier, Dr Thomson denied any wrongdoing and welcomed the SFC’s external scrutiny.
”I’ve spoken to a lot of the staff and they are very robust: we can sort out things at Adam Smith College in the professional community here in Adam Smith College. We don’t need a lot of disaffected people outside the college trying to undermine us,” he said.
”I had seven separate meetings with staff with a view to making my position clear, but more importantly they spoke and I listened.”
He added: ”People have to be aware that this is contrived, extremely biased when it’s anywhere near the truth, and it is also full of lies and half-truths.
”We’re under constant scrutiny from the SFC; we’re under constant scrutiny from HMIE; we’re a college ranked as one of the highest academically in the country; we had an HMIE report last year which was full of praise for leadership, for teaching and for the way that we operate as an institution; and we stand above most other colleges.”
Dr Thomson said action had been taken to look into allegations of bullying which has involved staff suspensions, although he did not go into further detail, but said he had made several points clear to staff.
He explained: ”Firstly we will not tolerate bullying or inappropriate treatment of staff; secondly we will not tolerate cyber-bullying or harassment; thirdly we won’t tolerate staff undermining other staff; and the last point, which is important, is that if anyone is subject to any allegations, we will make sure that they have available to them due process which allows allegations to be looked into and facts to be established.”
Dr Thomson said it was ”impossible” to say who was behind the campaign but added: ”I’m not in the game of unsubstantiated or furtive comments but there’s been a campaign which has been quite despicable in the nature of the allegations that have been made and in the way that these have been made.”
Dr Thomson also denied suggestions the college had taken steps to find out where the source of the allegations had come from.
The assertions came on the day that an online petition calling on the Scottish Government to suspend Dr Thomson and other executive directors at the centre of allegations broke through the 500-signature mark. Staff who set up the website have called for suspensions while an investigaton takes place, suggesting that is the only move that could ”restore a culture of openness across the college”.
”There has been talk about us washing the college’s dirty linen in public, but we sincerely believe that’s not what has happened here,” it said. ”We’ve opened the windows to let fresh air blow in and the stench of a very few unprincipled people out.
”They need to go so that we can get on with what we do best working with our students.”