Durham University suffers from a “real culture of fear”, according to evidence cited by a review of governance that was debated the week before the vice-chancellor announced his retirement.

The interim review – released this week to Times Higher Education under the Freedom of Information Act – mentions a series of concerns, including the influence of “personal relationships” on decision making, the dominance of management staff in the university’s senate and the “undermining” of junior decision-makers by the executive.

The report quotes one respondent to the review who says that “a real culture of fear has developed in the university” and that there was “little confidence” that governance gave a “fair and transparent route to recourse”.

Reported by the Times Higher Education. You can read the full story here. 

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.