Files mislaid in a meeting room by a Human Resources Manager reveal a conversation from the vice chancellor’s office indicating that Colin Rhodes, head of the art school, may be called in to account for alleged serious misconduct.
This places the vice chancellor in a very embarrassing position. Steven Spier will know that Rhodes’s previous executive assistant insisted she be moved away from him because of his odd personal style. Spier will also know that the newly married woman put in as a replacement is more able to resist Rhodes’s approach. It is widely acknowledged that Rhodes has accommodated a senior manager who openly practised sexual relations with a vulnerable administrator. Has the habit now spread?
Until now Steven Spier has given Rhodes an apparently free hand to manage the art school. With this gross behaviour Spier will have to come into the open to publicly demonstrate that Rhodes is innocent, or be faced with persuading him to leave quietly to protect Spier’s own profile. If not, this serious situation may bring the vice chancellor down just as he is working to cement himself as a success story. Will it be dispensable Rhodes who takes the hit?
Can you please let us know what the gross misconduct allegation is?
It was alleged he was inappropriate towards two female staff. He had also fallen out with Spier and other SLT over his poor management and habit of disappearing off.
Update on the Rhodes Affair
Rhodes has now resigned (on Thursday 2oth). Good riddance. But was he pushed or did he jump? Was it the gross misconduct allegations that finished him, or his shocking mis-management of KSA (which is now in serious crisis-level debt), or a combination of both? Perhaps the governors should call in Spier and get him to account for what a basket-case KU is becoming – after all, it was Spier who was instrumental in getting his close mate appointed KSA Dean in the first place.
Kingston University is a corrupt organisation that is rotten to the core, where the culture of bullying, male chauvinism and abuse of its staff is rife, especially at a senior level.
So, another Dean has been caught with his knickers down? This is becoming a pattern now and a pretty disturbing one at that.
It looks like the long arm of SLT is reaching out to Academic Staff in Arcc and Chs with 30 VS packages being offered.
Hopefully they will target some of those that need putting out to pasture. You know the ones who have been hiding behind professorships with questionable research profiles and continue to run certain departments into the ground.
Or the ones who have lost the enthusiasm to teach and seem to have an utter disdain towards the students. One hopes that SLT will keep the majority of the Academic staff that work extremely hard to deliver the best possible experience to our end users.
Support staff have had their pay grades lowered to pay for propping up Grade 9 Managers that strut around drinking coffee and forward the occasional e-mail.
Is the latest offering of VS going to meet the shortfall caused by years of dodgy expense claims and spurious research jolly’s?
Welcome to KU, the dictatorship run by self serving misfits who love to give each other pats on the back with over inflated salaries for turning a blind eye.
Very disturbing news has leaked out of KSA and it confirms what a nasty piece of work Rhodes is. Apparently all staff in ArCC and CHS were called to a special meeting with the Dean with a just a few day’s notice given. Nobody had any clue what the meeting was about beforehand. When staff arrived, the Dean was nowhere to be seen, and staff were told he was was ‘sick’ (no surprises there). Instead, an HR newbie, Peter Mitchell, and the head of school, the deeply unpopular S. Upstone, conducted the meeting (badly) and stunned everyone by announcing KSA is in huge debt and wants to save £1.5m (!). To do so, they have a target of reducing the 112 staff in ArCC and CHS by 30. This will be done by offering VS, but if not enough staff volunteer to go they will do it by compulsory redundancies. Needless to say, there were some angry questions over why the Dean had bottled out of the meeting, and calls were made for him to face his staff in a rescheduled meeting. Given Rhodesy is facing allegations of gross misconduct of, er, another kind already, this latest episode reinforces the impression that his incompetent mis-management of KSA has now turned into a major crisis. SLT must be squirming in their seats. Perhaps Rhodesy’s days are numbered?
There’s a potential legal liability/duty of care issue here. If this person, Mr. Rhodes, has a pattern of bad behavior towards staff, about which the VC/University is aware, and no action is taken to protect staff, they could be in hot water if a lawsuit is filed by a staff member impacted by such misconduct.