Emails reveal culture of paranoia at South West College

Internal emails obtained by this newspaper show an apparent culture of paranoia within the college. The emails, sourced via Freedom of Information, detail exchanges between key management figures including Celine McCartan – some outside office hours – about a range of issues with this newspaper, including where stories on the dispute over pay may end up.

“Thank goodness we are not on the front page again,” wrote Ms McCartan in one of the emails on Wednesday, January 31 at 8.41pm after discovering what was on the next day’s front page of this newspaper on social media.

But the batch of emails shines a light on how the college handled legitimate media requests, including:

• How Ms McCartan ordered a search of ALL College email addresses to see who was in contact with The Impartial Reporter.

• How she described engaging with this newspaper over an event we held at the college on poverty as “precarious territory” and it needed to be “carefully managed”.

• How she instructed staff that this newspaper was not to speak to anyone linked to the college over fears it would give “oxygen” to ongoing issues over pay.

On October 3, this newspaper ran a story in which frustrated employees from the college described a letter initiating a consultation on redundancy while they were engaging in strike action as a “dirty, mean act”.

Staff seen this letter as intimidation sent while they were on strike as a tactic to “spook” people off the picket lines while they were undertaking strike action, in the letter Ms. McCartan told staff: “it is necessary for the College to initiate consultation on a voluntary severance scheme over the coming months.”

On October 17 at 6.19pm, Ms McCartan sent an email to a staff member at the college whose name and email have been redacted and asked: “Can I ask you to do a search of any email issued to The Impartial Reporter from college email addresses in the period since September 25”.

Two days later, the staff member replied to Ms McCartan with an attachment an Excel document entitled: ‘Any emails issued to the Impartial Reporter from college email addresses in the period since September 25’.

On October 17, The Impartial Reporter lodged a query with the college regarding an email from Liam Curran, a member of its senior management, which was described by some staff who received it as “threatening” and “intimidating”.

The email by Mr. Curran sent while staff were striking outside over pay, further strained relations. In the email, Mr. Curran said he was “hearing through the grapevine” that a voluntary exit scheme was going to be withdrawn “due to misrepresented reports in the media and actions of UCU branch members that do not or are not aligning to the principles of good industrial relations”.

At the time, Katharine Clarke, UCU told Mr. Curran in a letter that “publicly circulating unsolicited scorn prompted by ‘vile rumour’ about UCU industrial strategy on a strike day could be interpreted as behaviour intended to cause significant detriment to UCU”.

In an email at 6.13pm, Ms McCartan wrote: “I am aware that [redacted] had a query in connection with email communications between UCU members. [redacted] may be able to provide further information. I can advise that [redacted] this was not a college communication. I would have no further comment to make on it.”

In an email sent at 6.31pm to a colleague, Ms McCartan said: “It just fuels the issue and probably gets the college another headline, which is unfortunate”. Later that evening, at 11.19pm, she emailed Padraig McNamee, Director of Curriculum, and stated: “This is getting messy”.

On November 23, The Impartial Reporter hosted an event titled: ‘Stand Up to Poverty’ in South West College.

The event held in association with The Trussell Trust dealt with the issue of poverty and had a range of speakers including Bernadette McAliskey, Dr. Ciara Fitzpatrick, Paul Kellagher, and others.

The event was preceded by a food bank appeal, supported by Encirc where readers donated food to Enniskillen Foodbank.

However, this event caused some internal concern for the college and a clarification on the booking of the event was sent from Sharon McGrath, Director of Corporate Services to Ms McCartan on October 25 at 4.39pm. She wrote: “Celine. The event that the Impartial Reporter wish to book is actually for a poverty event, in association with the Trussell Trust and local foodbanks”. The next line is redacted, but the email finished with the following: “They are pushing for confirmation of course”.

Ms McCartan replied: “OK Sharon – I hear what you are saying.”

She then called for the event organised by this newspaper and facilitated by the college as a venue to be “clearly and carefully managed”.

She added: “I do not want any vox pops or casual conversation seeking views on any issues to give oxygen to the current situation.

“I would prefer to be dealing directly with Trussell Trust. I will forward emails today around a IR request for a further statement on investigation so you are aware of this. Precarious territory.”

A proposal from this newspaper on running a series of success stories on former students of South West College was also put to the college – but was later blocked.

A query from a redacted email to another redacted email on December 1, said: “Please see the below which was sent from The Impartial, which highlights that they are still keen to promote SWC student successes and from looking through the coverage they have still been promoting our PR [press releases] that we send through.”

Later on December 12 at 9.30am , Ms McCartan replied to a redacted email and said: “I am going to take advice from [redacted] on how we should progress. I would not want to engage in something that would ultimately be in some way used to gain information or turned in some way from a positive to negative story.

“We do need to proceed with caution - but we are certainly on their radar.”

To date, the suggested feature has not run in this newspaper.

On January 24, a press query from this newspaper was lodged regarding UCU members at the college and the move to abstain from participating in open days and other recruitment activities.

In addition, UCU members withheld marks from college systems and awarding bodies, withdrew goodwill, worked strictly to contract and refused additional duties beyond the agreed programme of work.

An article on this move appeared in this newspaper on January 25.

In an internal email response to this query, Ms McCartan emailed Mr. McNamee, Mrs. McGrath and Ciaran McManus, one of the directors. In her email, Ms McCartan stated: “This is a worrying continued trend about how a local paper has this information.”

On January 31, The Impartial Reporter approached Dr. Nicholas O’Shiel over claims regarding his behaviour, these serious accusations were made regarding his behavior at the Lecturers Negotiating Committee (LNC).

UCU’s Katharine Clarke alleged that LNC had previously requested Dr O’Shiel consider his position following his decision to make unfinanced pay offers and to mislead UCU over the value of the non-consolidated payment.

A story did not run in the February 1 edition of The Impartial Reporter but whether or not it would be on the front page occupied the minds of some within the college.

An email sent at 8.37pm on January 31 to Ms. McCartan said: “At least we are not on the front page anyhow this week”. Moments later in an email to a redacted address, Ms McCartan asks: “Have you seen the front page yet? I don’t know where it will end up.”

At 8.41pm, Ms McCartan sent an email to a redacted email which said: “Thank goodness we are not on the front page again.” Other parts of the email were redacted.

On February 1, an email from a redacted email address offers support to Dr. O’Shiel and says: “This is not an easy situation to deal with, regardless of our level of resilience, and so please know that support is available to you should you require it.”

On February 8, The Impartial Reporter ran a front page story on calls from UCU for Dr. O’Shiel to resign as Chairman of the college. UCU accused Dr. O‘Shiel of making misleading promises of a pay rise to staff, characterised as “an act of extreme bad faith”.

UCU claimed that Dr. O’Shiel had “lost the trust and goodwill of the largest trade union in the further education sector”.

Dr. O’Shiel rejected these claims.

A query from this newspaper in relation to the article was sent to the college on February 6. In an email at 6.02 pm on February 6, Ms McCartan told a colleague: “Seems this is continuing to roll”.

In the last of the emails obtained by The Impartial Reporter, an email thread of support to Dr. O’Shiel is shared. The sender of the email of support, whose details have been redacted told Dr. O’Shiel: “Just wanting to say how appalling that article in The Impartial Reporter is.” The sender later added: “Your open and transparent style defies any allegation regarding integrity.” Dr. O’Shiel thanked the sender for their “very kind words which are greatly appreciated on a day like today.”

This Freedom of Information request was not submitted to The Impartial Reporter via the college but instead was handled by Belfast-based law firm, A&L Goodbody.

When asked why this was the case, a spokesperson for the college stated: “South West College (SWC) is committed to maintaining transparency and adhering to the protocols and regulations surrounding Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

“SWC engaged A&L Goodbody Northern Ireland LLP to ensure that the college handled the referred to request with the appropriate legal oversight and compliance. Engaging external legal advice for complex FOI requests is not unusual and reflects a commitment to procedural correctness. “A&L Goodbody was appointed through tender to provide legal advice on a range of issues to the Further Education sector."

A spokeswoman for South West College responded to the queries raised in this article, she stated: "South West College upholds the principles of press freedom and believes in the free flow of information,

transparency, and the importance of a well-informed public. In recent months, South West College has received several enquiries from The Impartial Reporter concerning College business, around which, it is widely accepted that matters should be handled confidentially and sensitively to ensure the best outcome for all parties.

"In responding to these queries, College management is duty-bound to ensure confidential information is not being accessed and communicated outside of the College without appropriate context or verification. We aim to ensure any information shared publicly by College staff is accurate. South West College remains committed to the highest possible standards of openness and accountability for the delivery of its services and looks forward to continuing to work with

colleagues in the media to share the successes of our staff, students, employers, and partners."