A senior lecturer in Trinity College Dublin's English Department has claimed before the High Court that he has been the victim of an "academic putsch" orchestrated by the head of the department.
Dr Gerald Morgan secured an order yesterday restraining a disciplinary hearing into allegations against him from proceeding at 11a.m. The order was returned by Mr Justice Smyth to January 13th.
Mr Roderick Horan, for Dr Morgan, said his client had lectured in TCD since 1968 and was now a senior lecturer in Medieval English and a Fellow of TCD. He had had a very successful career there except for "a degree of turbulence" with various heads of the department, most recently Prof Nicholas Grene.
In an affidavit, Dr Morgan said his present problems with Prof Grene arose from a lack of consultation over the merger of the Departments of Medieval and Renaissance English with Modern English in 1988. He said the merger had resulted in the downgrading of Old and Middle English and the "unification" period had engendered bitterness.
The judge heard that Dr Morgan was angry and hurt at being excluded earlier this year from the selection process for a permanent lecturer in Medieval English. Mr Horan said his client had engaged in correspondence asserting he was entitled to be part of the nominating committee and was more qualified for the role than Prof Scattergood, a colleague.
Mr Horan said Prof Grene took the view that Dr Morgan was making false and malicious allegations about Prof Scattergood. The correspondence was initially quite temperate but later became "very bellicose", counsel said. He would be claiming at a later hearing that Dr Morgan was entitled to freedom of expression of controversial views.
Counsel said there was another incident on October 6th last involving a lecturer, Ms Stephanie Newell, when Dr Morgan's conduct was "intemperate". He said Dr Morgan had encountered Ms Newell in the Arts Block and during a conversation, Dr Morgan believed Ms Newell had said something which raised serious questions related to her academic achievements. Mr Horan said Dr Morgan had grasped Ms Newell by the hand, kissed her on the cheek and run out of the office. Ms Newell had made a complaint.
Mr Horan said Ms Newell had not made too much of that incident but the university had.