Ex-Dundee University principal says returning £150,000 ‘not in thought process'
Professor Iain Gillespie insisted it was 'not in my thought process' to hand back the cash.
He stepped down from his post at the university – which is looking to cut hundreds of posts as it tries to deal with a £35 million deficit – in December.
Holyrood's Education Committee is examining how the problems at the university arose, with convener Douglas Ross branding Prof Gillespie a 'coward' and accusing him of having 'created this mess and walked away into the sunset'.
His comments came after Prof Gillespie offered a 'heartfelt apology' to staff and students at Dundee – which is to receive an additional £40 million from the Scottish Government to help its financial situation.
Appearing before the committee on Thursday, he said: 'Let me start off with an apology to the staff and students.
'I think staff and students deserve better than they have had with the management and the governance of the University of Dundee over quite some time, but particularly over the period of 2024.
'It's a heartfelt apology for a university that I love, and a city that I hugely respect.
'I accept the buck stops with me. That is why at the end of last year I left.'
Prof Gillespie faced MSPs after being heavily criticised in a report last week into the university's financial difficulties by former Glasgow Caledonian University principal Professor Pamela Gillies.
Mr Ross said the report showed Prof Gillespie as having 'dangerous over self-confidence and complacency, often in combination or arrogance' and an 'overbearing leadership style'.
Prof Gillespie accepted the report was a 'forensic piece of work' that showed the 'challenges' Dundee was dealing with, but he added: 'As far as the way it has presented me and my management style, that is not something I recognise.'
But he later told the committee a complaint had been made against him in a previous job at the Natural Environment Research Council.
Prof Gillespie said one worker 'did make a complaint against me, that was about overbearing behaviour', adding this person had 'moved on to another job'.
He stepped down as principal at the University of Dundee in December, recalling how this happened after others at the institution told him they had 'no confidence' in his leadership.
Prof Gillespie said it is 'possible' he had then resigned by text – though he said he may instead have sent an email confirming his decision.
Mr Ross told him: 'The only thing I thought about you was you are a coward.
'You couldn't go back to the university and face the staff who were losing their jobs, face the students whose studies were so badly disrupted.
'You just created this mess and walked away into the sunset.'
Asked about the payoff he received, Prof Gillespie said it is a 'matter of public record' that his contract set out he should receive six months' basic salary on his resignation.
Mr Ross told him he had received 'over £150,000 to walk away from a university you almost destroyed'.
He asked the former principal: 'At any point have you considered paying that money back?'
Prof Gillespie said the university had a 'contractual obligation' to pay him the money, adding it was 'not in my thought process to repay a contractual obligation to me for my work at the university'.
While he said he took 'overall management responsibility for what happened at the University of Dundee', he told Mr Ross he would 'push back' against the claim that he 'almost destroyed it'.
Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie also pushed for Prof Gillespie to give back the money.
He told the former principal: 'To hold on to that just seems astonishing with the pain other people are feeling.
'I just genuinely want you to think about that, because I think it would send an important message.
'It wouldn't repair the damage but it would send an important message.'
Joe Fitzpatrick, the SNP MSP for Dundee City West, told Prof Gillespie: 'You did apologise and you told us it was heartfelt, but I am still not sure it cuts it for the staff and students who will be watching.'
Prof Gillespie also hit back at claims from former Holyrood minister Wendy Alexander, who was vice-principal international at the university for almost a decade.
In a submission to the committee, Baroness Alexander had said she was 'frozen out' and then 'asked to leave' her post after raising concerns about university finances.
Prof Gillespie insisted he did 'not want to get into a slagging match about people's characters', he told MSPs: 'Wendy's performance in terms of delivering student numbers wasn't what we needed it to be.'
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