Whistleblown, 22/2/2002
WHISTLEBLOWERS
'Dr Ryan's status as an Oxford head of house does not mean he is an employee or servant of the university'
Report by Phil Baty in The Times Higher (Education Supplement), 22nd February 2002. Click image for full-size scan.Click for THES version (exits www.akme)
The High Court has upheld the right of Oxford University academics to criticise a philosopher's controversial book, despite the fact that the university signed a legal undertaking not to disparage the work.
Oxford University paid £17,000 to settle a legal row with philosopher Andrew Malcolm in 1991 over a decision by the Oxford University Press to renege on an informal deal to publish his book Making Names. As part of the settlement Oxford agreed in a consent order that "it, its servants and agents... will not publish or solicit the publication of any derogatory statements, letters or articles about Mr Malcolm or about the merits or quality of the work". Mr Justice Lightman has confirmed that the order must not be construed "as effective to muzzle academic freedom of expression and debate and censor any disparagement of the work by academics at the university".
OUP's then commissioning editor, Henry Hardy, told Malcolm in the 1980s that he was keen to publish Making Names, and it was likely to be approved for publication by the OUP's delegates. OUP delegate Alan Ryan, then a fellow of New College where he is now warden, made recommendations that the book be published in two reports to the OUP. But after the work had been revised and improved, Dr Ryan changed his mind and recommended that the work be rejected. The informal book deal was scrapped. After a lengthy legal battle, the courts established in 1991 that Mr Malcolm had been treated unfairly and recommended damages, which were paid in an out-of-court settlement.
When Mr Hardy reiterated his initial support for the book in the pages of The THES last year and said he had "never fully understood why Dr Ryan had withdrawn his initial strong support for the book", Dr Ryan retorted. In the letters pages of The THES in April last year, he explained his U-turn: "The book wore badly on re-reading," he said. "What had seemed fresh, lively and amusing seemed coarse and jeering the third time around. Perhaps the reading climate had changed, perhaps it was always a book that should be read once only."
Mr Malcolm claimed in the High Court that Dr Ryan's comments, "appearing in the country's foremost higher education journal, constitute a serious public derogation of the work", in breach of the 1991 agreement. Mr Justice Lightman last month threw out Mr Malcolm's claim, ruling that Dr Ryan's status as an Oxford head of house, and a member of its congregation, does not mean he is an employee or servant of the university. Lecturing and supervision by Dr Ryan for the university meant that he was "plainly an independent contractor", the judge said.
Justice Lightman said: "I am fully sensitive to [Mr Malcolm's] concern for his professional reputation and the limitation on the protection that the consent order provides." But he said that the order could not be used to block academic freedom of expression, or disparagement of the work "unless such disparagement is prompted or authorised by the university". Mr Malcolm, who said the ruling was preposterous, is faced with paying the university's £41,000 legal costs.
Click for Malcolm vs. Oxford 2001/2 Explanation & Index or the next item or first item in this series.
AKME EXPRESSION, MAY-JUNE 2002
THE LEGAL BACKGROUND and Malcolm's Lectureship offerTHE BROAD STREET SHOP featuring the Gallery of Shame, Akme University, St. Frideswide's grotto, Akmé Ball etc. Reports: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Oxford Times 21/6 THES 26/4, Oxford Times 26/4, Guardian 30/4, Oxford Star 2/5, Oxford Student 2/5, Cherwell 3/5, Publishing News 10/5, Private Eye 17/5, Guardian 25/6, South China Morning Post 11/5, Change (US H.E. journal), Philosophers' Magazine, Autumn. Alan Ryan quits, ranting: THES 31/5, Cherwell 7/6, other quotes Rave review of Making Names in Oxford Student 30/5: "One of the most powerful statements of the human condition written in the past century." |
CLICK FOR:
THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT OUP'S 'CHARITABLE STATUS'
THE OXBRIDGE COLLEGE ACCOUNTS INDEX AND OUP ACCOUNTS INDEX
THE MALCOLM vs. OXFORD CASE INDEXES: I (1984-92) AND II (2001-02)
THE HISTORY OF AKME AND OF THIS WEBSITE
THE AKME OXFORD CUTTINGS LIBRARY
e-mail: akme@btinternet.com