The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, Professor James Tooley, has been suspended following allegations of an affair with a young woman from Hyderabad, India.
The woman, now in her 20s, claimed she had a sexual relationship with the 65-year-old professor.
Reports say she also wrote about the relationship in her personal diary. Copies of these diaries were shared with the university by Tooley’s wife, Cynthia, who is from Nigeria.
Cynthia, aged 42, reportedly met Prof. Tooley when she was 18 and later married him. She is a first-generation immigrant who moved to the UK for her postgraduate studies and has two bi-racial children with Tooley.
The alleged affair began years ago when Prof. Tooley was working on a project in Hyderabad to provide low-cost private schools for poor communities. He was said to have known the woman’s father and helped pay for her university education. Their alleged relationship reportedly started after she graduated.
In a statement through his lawyer, Prof. Tooley denied the accusations, calling them “baseless and malicious.” He added that he looked forward to clearing his name and being “vindicated.”
The young woman involved has also defended him, stating in an interview with “The Times” that she loved him and described him as a kind and respectful man.
Professor Tooley became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham in 2020, succeeding historian Sir Anthony Seldon. The university was co-founded by former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
