University of Plymouth Leaked Emails Expose Staff Abuse

Posted by Tim Coles On March 17, 2023 0 Comment

By PIPR

17 March, 2023

In September 2022, a cabal of staff bypassed procedure and conspired to force a peace activist from his postdoctoral position (blindness research) because an anonymous complainant objected to his non-University writings.

From: Jane Grant <[email protected]> Sent: 28 September 2022 15:31 To: Doctoral College <[email protected]>; Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>

Subject: T J Coles

Hi there, I’ve had an email regarding one of our ex PhD students who, I’ve been informed is writing some pretty odd stuff for a journal called Nexus. He is saying that he is a post doctoral researcher here at Plymouth. I examined his PhD, maybe around 7nyears ago. It was on film and had no conspiracy theory references. Can you check if he is still registered with us please? If so, it may be time to terminate his contract. All best wishes, Jane Dr Jane Grant Associate Professor in Digital Arts Associate Head of School for Graduate Affairs Co Editor of The Oxford Handbook of Sound Art https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190274054.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190274054 Principle Supervisor Planetary Collegium Principle Supervisor CogNovo https://www.janegrant.org/ Twitter @janegrant100

From: Doctoral College <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, 28 September 2022 at 16:44 To: Jane Grant <[email protected]>, Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: T J Coles

Dear Jane Looking at our records we had a Tim Coles […] PhD Art and Media, who was awarded in March 2017. Could it be him? Kind regards Cher

PL4 8AA Email: [email protected] DC Tel : +44 (0)1752 587640 Tel: +44 (0)1752 585540 www.plymouth.ac.uk/research-degrees https://twitter.com/PlymUniPGR

From: Jane Grant <[email protected]> Sent: 28 September 2022 16:48 To: Doctoral College <[email protected]>; Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: T J Coles Dear Cher, Thanks, that sounds about right. Is there a register of associate or research fellows at all? Just to check. I won’t share the email here but the content of what he is now writing is not good for the University to be associated with, just general but outlandish conspiracy theories etc. and him as a research fellow. Be good to have him not on our books so to speak. All best wishes, Jane

Dr Jane Grant Associate Professor in Digital Arts Associate Head of School for Graduate Affairs Co Editor of The Oxford Handbook of Sound Art https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190274054.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190274054 Principle Supervisor Planetary Collegium Principle Supervisor CogNovo https://www.janegrant.org/ Twitter @janegrant100

From: Doctoral College <[email protected]> Sent: 29 September 2022 10:32 To: Sarah Kearns <[email protected]> Cc: Jane Grant <[email protected]>; Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: T J Coles

Hi Sarah Are you able to assist us. Tim Coles, […], was awarded a PhD Art and Media degree by us in 2017. Are you able to see if he is an Alumni member?

Sarah Carne has Googled ‘T J Cole’ and recognises his face to be Tim Coles, as detailed above. Kind regards Cher

Cher Cressey Doctoral College Administrator | Doctoral College (Student Administration) Level 4, Nancy Astor Building | University of Plymouth | Drake Circus | Plymouth | Devon PL4 8AA Email: [email protected] DC Tel : +44 (0)1752 587640 Tel: +44 (0)1752 585540 www.plymouth.ac.uk/research-degrees https://twitter.com/PlymUniPGR

From: Sarah Kearns <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, 29 September 2022 at 11:22 To: Jane Grant <[email protected]> Cc: Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>, Doctoral College <[email protected]> Subject: RE: T J Coles

Hello Jane,

Alumni have checked his record, and they have no record of him applying for Alumni Research Fellow status. He also unsubscribed from alumni comms in early 2018, so is no longer on our mailings lists. I see on Outlook there is an email address [email protected] and it’s a discretionary member account. Would you be happy to check with HR to see if he has any contract of employment with UoP? Another check would be with IT and would you be happy to check with IT Support to see if that discretionary account was set up for him and whether it can be closed? All the best Sarah

Sarah Kearns (she/her) Researcher Development Manager Doctoral College University of Plymouth, PL4 8AA United Kingdom Email: [email protected]

From: Jane Grant <[email protected]> Sent: 29 September 2022 12:06 To: Sarah Kearns <[email protected]> Cc: Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>; Doctoral College <[email protected]> Subject: Re: T J Coles

Thanks Sarah, once we find out, is it possible for the DC to contact him and ask him to cease to associate himself from the University please? Apologies, I have never come across this kind of thing, so not sure of the process. All best wishes, Jane

From: Sarah Kearns <[email protected]> Sent: 29 September 2022 12:26 To: Doctoral College <[email protected]> Cc: Jane Grant <[email protected]>; Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: T J Coles Importance: High

Hi Doctoral College, Can you please flag this for Cristina to respond to Jane and Cornel asap. Many thanks

Sarah

From: Doctoral College Sent: 29 September 2022 15:14 To: Jane Grant ([email protected]) <[email protected]>; Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]> Cc: Sarah Kearns <[email protected]> Subject: FW: T J Coles Importance: High

Hi Jane, Cornel, I’ve raised a support call with TIS to see if we can identify who asked for the Discretionary Account first of all. I don’t know what will be the process, if needed, to ask anybody to stop their association with UoP, if there is one. But we can perhaps look into what needs to be done once we know about the account. Kind regards, Cristina.

From: Doctoral College <[email protected]> Sent: 30 September 2022 12:55 To: Jane Grant <[email protected]>; Cornel Sandvoss <[email protected]>; Rong Huang <[email protected]> Cc: Sarah Kearns <[email protected]> Subject: RE: T J Coles

Hi all, I’ve had a reply from TIS on Tim Coles discretionary membership. He has had one since Nov 2017, this is few months after finishing his research degree, and was last renewed (so it’s active) in Jan ’22. I’ve copied Rong Huang, Deputy HoS for PBS, as TIS has indicated that this discretionary membership was been requested and supported by Martin Mowforth since Nov ‘17. Jane, perhaps you’d like to liaise with Rong going forward? Kind regards, Cristina.

From: Rong Huang <[email protected]> Sent: 30 September 2022 14:39 To: Martin Mowforth <[email protected]> Cc: Katie Angliss <[email protected]> Subject: FW: T J Coles

Hi, Martin Would you mind letting me know what engagement Tim Coles has with PBS? It seems that you have supported his discretionary membership application. Many thanks Rong

From: Martin Mowforth <[email protected]> Date: Friday, 30 September 2022 at 18:26 To: Rong Huang <[email protected]> Cc: Katie Angliss <[email protected]>, Jane Grant <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: T J Coles

Hello Rong, Katie and Jane, I’ve supported Tim Coles’ application for discretionary membership on two occasions – precisely when I can’t recall, I’m afraid. The first time I did so I believed that he was finishing off his research even though he already had his research degree, and he asked me to do so. On the second occasion – if I remember correctly – he was (and maybe still is?) the director of the Plymouth Peace Unit, or some similar name. Without any evidence – which was probably very lax of me – I believed that his organisation was a bona fide group set up within the university, but I also believed that it was a part of the Law and Crime School rather than the PBS. Actually, on that second occasion, I didn’t have to support his membership and didn’t have to complete the discretionary membership form as he emailed me to inform me that his membership had already been renewed without anybody sponsoring him and before I had completed the discretionary form. I should add that my knowledge of Tim’s writings include his fairly regular contributions to CounterPunch which is a journal / magazine of some merit and fame (not notoriety) with a global reach. Its regular contributors include famous academics as well as well-known commentators. I was not aware of and have not come across the Nexus magazine nor of any association between Tim Coles and major conspiracy theories. I apologise if I made too many assumptions regarding the authority required to support a discretionary membership. In that regard, I plead ignorance which as we all know is never an acceptable defence. Martin

Martin Mowforth

From: Jane Grant <[email protected]> Sent: 03 October 2022 08:46 To: Martin Mowforth <[email protected]>; Rong Huang <[email protected]> Cc: Katie Angliss <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: T J Coles

Dear Martin, Thank for getting back. I’ve copied in the Doctoral College here so they can see your reply and come to a decision. As Time Coles is not in my School, I’ll leave this with you and them. Thanks again. All best wishes, Jane

From:

Sent: 05 October 2022 09:54

To: Access Management <[email protected]>

Subject: Urgent help needed

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have been locked out of my discretionary email account (I am using my wife’s email account to contact you). The staff member to whom I spoke on the phone this morning said that it was probably because my sponsor, Martin Mowforth, had his account disabled, too.

I am still working on University-affiliated projects, so I need the account enabled. It was not due to expire until at least February next year, plus I was given no warning about the impending termination. It seems as if, because my sponsor’s account was suspended, mine was automatically disabled.

Please enable it ASAP. Please contact me on this email address and/or telephone on […] to confirm when you have enabled it, or to discuss the matter.

Tim Coles

Le 5 oct. 2022 à 11:47, Access Management <[email protected]> a écrit :

Hi Tim,

I’m afraid I cannot reactivate your account at this time. I can only suggest you discuss the matter directly with Katie Angliss in the Faculty as only they can authorise your account being reactivated.

Regards,

Olly Morgan

Solution Architect

Digital Experience and Platforms – IT Product Development and Delivery

Technology & Information Services | University of Plymouth | Drake Circus | Plymouth | PL4 8AA

Email : [email protected] | Web : plymouth.ac.uk/ITservices

Dear Olly,

Thank you for your email. Could you please explain what has changed in University policy? My discretionary account was not due for renewal until early next year. Ordinarily IT staff simply unlock my account.

Best,

Tim

Dear Dr Angliss,

My name is Tim. I have a discretionary email account with the University, which I am currently using to finish work with the Thomas Pocklington Trust for a University-linked project.

I am in distress as this morning I was locked out of my account for no apparent reason and without explanation. My account was not due to be renewed until early next year.

The initial person to whom I spoke at staff IT support speculates that because my sponsor’s account was locked, mine was automatically locked, too.

Ordinarily IT support are clear and helpful, but this has not been the case today. The initial person to whom I spoke merely passed me on to account management (usually they tell me what’s wrong and fix it over the phone).

Account management have not provided an explanation, either. They have cited you as the only authority able to unlock my account.

Could you please contact Olly at account management (cc’d) to authorise the unlock? As noted, I still have University-affiliated work to do and my account was not yet due for renewal.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at this email address (my wife’s, […])

Best,

Tim Coles

Dear Dr Angliss,

Further to my email asking for your help unlocking my email account, I have been in touch with Dr Martin Mowforth who has kindly explained to me what has happened. If I may: I received my PhD in 2017 and a discretionary account from my supervisor, Dr David Hilton (retired). I then received a grant with Plymouth University as my host institution to research blindness for the Thomas Pocklington Trust (which awarded the grant through the University). I am currently writing up my research findings which I presented to the Dublin Vision 2022 conference (p. 13, https://vision2022dublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Vision2022_AbstractBook_Final-1.pdf). Annually, discretionary membership is renewed. On previous occasions, my sponsor was Dr Hilton. Since he retired, it has been Dr Mowforth. I now understand that this policy has changed and that approval from the head of the given School (in this case yourself) is required. Dr Mowforth explained that early locking of my account was because a well-placed individual in the School of Business had read an article of mine on politics (i.e., not related to my work at the University), which linked me in the biography of the article to the University. The individual took exception to this and sought ways of terminating my account. This was not the proper procedure because the individual assumed that I do not have outstanding work linked to the University, which I do (i.e., with the Pocklington Trust). At the very least I could have been approach openly about this situation, yet my account was locked with no warning. I’m sure that my financial sponsor, the Thomas Pocklington Trust, would be alarmed to hear about this, as they are expecting me to complete my work with the University as the host.

I thank you for your time in reading this appeal and hope that you will agree that my treatment in this case has been unjust and that my account should be restored. If you agree, please ask IT support to contact on this email address: […]. I look forward to hearing from you. Best, Tim

Good Evening Tim,

It has been brought to our attention that a Tim Coles, who affiliates themselves with the University, has been writing articles for a Magazine called Nexus, which contain conspiracy theories which the university does not want to be associated with. The person who previously sponsored your discretionary account with the university has identified that they are currently not doing any work with you, nor have they done in the past, and it is for this combination of reasons that your account access has been stopped with immediate effect.

If you are conducting research with a member of staff currently at the university, then I would suggest getting in touch with them to possibly unlock your account, as this is not something that I am able to do.

Regards,

Katie Angliss

Dr Katie Angliss (Pronouns: She/ Her)

(PhD, BSc, TechIOSH, FHEA)

Head of Division (Management – Plymouth Business School)

Lecturer in Events and Business Management

PBS EDI Committee Chair

Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) (Managing Safely) Trainer

301 Cookworthy Building, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA

Tel. 01752 588029

Email. [email protected]

You may receive this email outside of your normal office hours. Please be assured that there is no expectation that you will reply until those normal working hours.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to complain about my treatment and to ask for an urgent intervention to restore my email account, at least until the issue is resolved. Since 2017, when I got my PhD, I have had a discretionary email account with the University. I was awarded a grant by the Thomas Pocklington Trust (see p. 13 here:

https://vision2022dublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Vision2022_AbstractBook_Final-1.pdf). Plymouth University is my host institution at which I conduct the research. Someone at the Business School, who has not identified themselves, has taken issue with something I wrote in a magazine unrelated to the University or to my work for the Pocklington Trust. The only connection is that in the author bio, I mention my affiliation with the University. On the basis of that, said person has claimed that I am bringing the University into disrepute and has leaned on IT services to lock me out of my email account without notice or explanation. This is outrageous for several reasons: 1) I do not even know who this person is, 2) I have ongoing work for Pocklington via the University, which is hosting me, 3) no formal notice was issued, 4) no right of reply was given, 5) I have lost all of my contacts, 6) this has inflicted psychological distress and is harming my mental health, and 7) using my original email sponsor, Dr Mowforth (cc’d), as an excuse to lock my account is not right because, at the time, all that was needed to obtain a discretionary account was a sponsor, not the head of a given school or department, as is now being claimed (see email below). I request that the complaints department at least helps me to temporarily restore the account until the matter can be formally resolved. The outcome of the complaint is that I would like my account unlocked and the individual identified. Please see the below email from Dr Angliss (cc’d), who may be able to assist in identifying the individual responsible. I look forward to hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions. Best, Tim Coles

Le 06/10/2022 à 20:17, Doctoral College a écrit :

Thank you for emailing the Doctoral College.

We aim to reply to your e-mail not later than 10 working days. Please contact us if you have not had a reply by this date.

Please note, this email contains information which aims to support you with your query and we ask that you review the information provided carefully. This means that if the answer to your query can be found in the information below, that you will not receive a direct response from the Doctoral College.

If your email requires a direct response from the Doctoral College team we will endeavour to reply as soon as possible.

Many thanks for your patience.

The Doctoral College team.

[email protected] / [email protected] /  +44 (0)1752 587640

[email protected]

Subject: Help!

Fri, 7 Oct, 18:22

to J.Grant-1

Dear Jane,

I hope this finds you well. A couple of mornings ago, I found myself locked out of my University email account with no explanation or warning. I had to dig to find out that someone has objected to political articles of mine, in which I reference my position at the University in the author’s bio.

Your name has been mentioned in an email from Dr Martin Mowforth (my discretionary email account sponsor) concerning this situation. Do you know anything about it? Have you been approached for comment about me?

No one has had the basic decency or humanity to approach me, question me, warn me, give me a right of reply, identify the person who has made the accusation, given me time to gather my contacts before the account was deleted, or give me time to finish my work for the Thomas Pocklington Trust for which the University was a host.

Thanks,

Tim

Subject: I have the emails

Tim Coles

Sun, 9 Oct, 17:24

to J.Grant-1

Dear Jane,

I have seen the email chain written about me, including your remarks, so I now know what has happened, including your role in initiating the termination of my email account.

I’m sure that you didn’t intend to, but in dealing with the complaint against me in the manner that you did, you have jeopardised a contract between the University and the Thomas Pocklington Trust.

For several years now, I have been conducting research with the Pocklington Trust using the University as a host institution. I recently presented for them at conference (see p. 13 here https://vision2022dublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Vision2022_AbstractBook_Final-1.pdf).

Being locked out of my University email account is preventing me from completing my work. My research includes helping blind people by inventing a novel form of audio description, which might be delayed or cancelled because of the termination of my position at the University.

No one in the email chain thought to look into contracts that I might have with the University. Had they done so, they would have seen that terminating my account without warning was not the appropriate response to a third party complaint.

I’m sure that you had no ill-intention. As one of your emails says, you were inexperienced. Perhaps a better approach would have been to ask me for comment and, if you still weren’t satisfied, taken it to a review panel at which we both could have argued our case?

For the record, the only association I draw between the University and my political research is noting my affiliation in the author’s bio of the given article.

Secondly, my political work has been endorsed by Noam Chomsky and other highly-regarded individuals. My political work has been published in respected academic journals, including Peace Review, and cited by other scholars.

Just because some people disagree with it, it is unjust to dismiss the entirety of my work as conspiracy theory, especially as I have not even been given the opportunity to look at the specific grievances.

On a human level, imagine being unable to login to your university account without warning or explanation, only to find that no one will tell you what’s taking place behind your back. Imagine having to explain to your funders that your host university has locked you out without explanation. Imagine losing your contacts because you can’t login again.

I am writing to ask for your help to reverse this decision and to unlock my account.

This whole situation has been blown out of proportion by someone who doesn’t like what I write. I do not want to escalate it by continuing with formal complaints.

I know that such a situation can be embarrassing: to admit when we handled things wrong, but I’m here to talk without hostility. I just want my account unlocked.

I’m sure you understand and that you’ll reverse your decision. Please contact me ASAP so we can get this sorted out.

Best wishes,

Tim

17/10/2022

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have not had a reply to my urgent complaint email, despite 10 days have passed. I have been locked out of my University email account for the same amount of time. I am also now in the possession of emails exposing prima facie staff misconduct and the involvement of elements of the Doctoral College in locking my account without notice or due process.

Best,

Tim Coles

Dear Dr Coles,

We received your original e-mail (attached) and having read it, it appeared to be a matter outside any research degree status at the University and, instead, relate to an issue post-degree and in which the Doctoral College did not have any input. Therefore, we did not reply to the original message, as indicated in our automatic reply, as it was felt it was not a matter for the Doctoral College.

I have copied above the person who sent the original e-mail; it’ll be up to them to decide on any course of action appropriate to this matter.

If however, if the matter relates to the research degree and you are considering submitting a complaint, I would advise to visit the University Student Complaints page.

Kind regards,

Cristina.

Dr. Cristina Rivas

Doctoral College Manager | Doctoral College | Academic Registry

University of Plymouth | Drake Circus | Plymouth | PL4 8AA

T: +44 (0)1752 587640

www.plymouth.ac.uk/doctoralcollege

Le 20/10/2022 à 12:15, Katie Angliss a écrit :

Hello Tim,

I understand that you have been in contact with a number of people at the university, none of which you are currently engaged in work/ research with – these staff will be unable to unlock your IT account, and I ask that you cease communication with them.

As per my previous email to you (dated 05/10/2022), if you are able to identify a named member of university staff that you are currently working with, and that can confirm your research association, then it is them that will need to sign off your discretionary membership. I am happy to discuss this with them directly if you are able to identify who they are.

Kind regards,

Katie