Figures released today in the Times Higher Education magazine show that the resignation package of former City vice-chancellor Malcolm Gillies was the most expensive payout made by any academic institution in the UK in the last financial year.

As revealed by the Inquirer in January, £393,000 of this was part of a “was compensation for loss of office” when he resigned his post last summer.

City’s new vice-chancellor has been accused of creating a “climate of fear and intimidation” in his current post at Bournemouth University.

City’s dean of students, Dr Malcolm Cross has admitted to innapropriate behaviour, including offering oral sex to a colleague and gesturing towards his crotch at a business dinner.

City’s deputy pro-chancellor (vice chair) is under investigation by Ofcom for allegedly taking bribes from the Scottish government.

By Sarah Collins
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PT! Live offers emerging metal bands the chance to show the world that they mean business. For most of them, backstage riders full of Grey Goose Vodka and cold cuts will remain a distant dream, and a lot of them clearly lack that frontman charisma that is oh-so-necessary in an industry where your customers buy into your image rather than buy your records. But tonight’s showcase is a treat nevertheless.

By Matthias Scherer

The Social, West End, Monday 14th December 2009

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What a lovely setting – it’s just before the Christmas break, it’s nice and warm inside, there’s live music, and it’s all organised by the dudes at small-but-great indie outlet Alcopop! Records. The label is releasing an EP by Stagecoach, the Surrey quintet who are part of tonight’s bill.

By Sofia Diogo Mateus

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The three men arrested last November after attacks on City University Muslim students will not face court proceedings. According to a police spokesperson, charges have been dropped “due to insufficient evidence and a lack of witnesses coming forward.”

By Danny Crowley
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City’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) society is demanding an apology from the acting vice-chancellor after he allowed a controversial preacher to speak at the university.

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell (below) was also angered that the preacher Abu Usumah was allowed to come to City and called for the resignation of Prof Julius Weinberg.

By Danny Crowley and Sofia Mateus
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A HAITIAN City student trying to raise money to help her family and fellow countrymen has launched her own aid campaign by posting an appeal video on YouTube.

Editorial
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According to Egon Zehnder, the expensive consultancy outfit brought in to hire the replacement of former City vice-chancellor Malcolm Gillies, “recent experience has demonstrated the substantial costs” of hiring the “wrong” person.

We see it differently. Recent information “shows the indefensible costs” of getting rid of the “right” person. The £500,000 spent by the university on Prof Gillies’ severance package and on the recruitment of his successor is an incredibly expensive error at a time when the university cannot afford to mess up.