Date: Tuesday, 11 April 2006

To: The Bishop of St David’s

Cc:
The Vice Chancellor University of Wales Lampeter
The Secretary and Academic Registrar University of Wales Lampeter
Head of School Prof David Austin
Kathryn Worsey HEFCW observer fao HEFCW
Friends of the University of Wales Lampeter

Re: Head of School Prof. David Austin – Libel, Gross Misconduct and Perverting the Course of the Student Complaints Procedure

The Vice Chancellor Robert Pearce - Gross Misconduct and Perverting the Course of the Student Complaints Procedure; specifically failing to make any inquiry into my complaint, repeating the libel of David Austin and threatening legal action for making a legitimate complaint for which I have privilege, and professionally qualified and he is not.

The Secretary Thomas Roderick - Gross Misconduct and Perverting the Course of the Student Complaints Procedure; specifically writing a ‘letter of completion’ in the knowledge that such was a contrived pack of lies, with the intent to avoid any liability and deprive me of any compensation.

I have not received a denial or response from Prof. Austin concerning his libel of myself within the time limit Pre Action Protocol; therefore I am free to take appropriate court action.

However, I do not want to provide any further excuses for a delay in the hearing and given the obvious conflict with this issue, it would be appropriate for me to wait until the hearing is over before I take appropriate action; furthermore I suspect that there will be fresh evidence on this issue which will be to my advantage.

Meanwhile I must clarify points that Prof. Austin has made to Kathryn Worsey in a libellous email on the issue of my complaint. In my opinion the problem is that Prof. Austin needs to be liked by all and sundry and lacks the spine to tackle the staff disciplinary aspects of his responsibilities as Head of School.

Instead he took what he though was the easy way out of fobbing me off, flouting procedures and telling the Vice Chancellor a pack of lies to conceal his actions and who not only fell for this, but has become an accomplice to this situation making any form of action impossible without compromising himself.

This despicable, devious and bi-facial behaviour has a touch of the ‘mummy’s boy’ or passive aggressive personality disorder about it, in that he also set himself up as some kind of victim. Presumably to not only conceal his actions but so ‘mummy’ can mop his favoured brow and reassure him that his devious plot has worked and there is nothing to worry about.

Clearly there is a conflict with my complaint and the gross misconduct of senior staff which are issues for the staff disciplinary process. The problem with that is the entire governing body of the University appears to have been corrupted by their own failure to deal with this issue according to procedures and regulations.

While the latter does not come under the jurisdiction of the Visitor, HEFCW boasts that it has a statutory duty to ensure standards in higher education; its subsidiary the Quality Assurance Agency has a mission statement to reassure the public about standards in higher education.

Leaving aside my experience of these organisations aside, I again ask you to refer the matter to HEFCW to pressure them to carry out a full investigation as being in the best interests of the University according to its Charter and the people of Wales, and not in the interests of office bearers who would rather bring down the University than face the consequences of their actions.

I am simply attempting to make a student complaint according to procedures, and not sort out the psycho-sexual problems of staff or the personality growth impairment of Prof. David Austin, (I don’t do social work any more, and besides my area of expertise was juvenile delinquency which is why all this is very familiar!). Nor the failure of the University of Wales to provide a safe environment for students, the failure of the governing body to govern, or the failure of the Welsh higher education system to regulate itself. That is for others to resolve.

I look forward to further details of the hearing.