Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

there was still the small possibility that John Holifield would apply for an Industrial
Tribunal to appeal against wrongful dismissal.
On 16 September Glazebrook wrote to the Cardinal informing him about the
agreement reached. He wrote that "it must be a matter of the greatest regret that
such an agreement was not reached before four Fellows had felt obliged to resign
their Fellowships, and a decision not to continue the Bursar's appointment had been
reached by such a narrow majority". He blamed the Cardinal's solicitor for the fact
that it had taken so long to resolve the dispute. "The dispute, already old last
November , has dragged on for ten more months, it has attracted widespread,
divisive and damaging publicity, [due to the actions of the petitioners and himself],
and not only has a lot of money been expended, but the College is now faced with
the prospect and cost of defending legal proceedings brought by the departing
Bursar." Of course, with his enormous ego, it never occurred to him that his own
actions might have been largely responsible for this situation.
Two months later, in a belated but typically aggressive missive, on l9 November,
Glazebrook wrote to the Cardinal to inform him the Dr Elsmore now wished to
withdraw his Petition, for Dr Lehmann too had resigned his Fellowship, "having
found the atmosphere prevailing in the College this term too distasteful for him to
wish to remain a Fellow." The distasteful atmosphere was of course as much due to
Glazebrook's actions as anyone's. He could not resist a final disagreeable paragraph
reproaching the Cardinal for not appointing Commissioners as provided for in the
Articles (drafted by Glazebrook)! The Cardinal replied briefly with two comments;
first that for a person to be appointed Visitor and then have to work through
Commissioners was not a way of proceeding that he believed to be sensible; second
that he had always regarded - and still did - that the problems that arose at St
Edmund's were matters which could and should have been settled on the spot by the
persons concerned. It seemed to him that "a Visitor had a right to exercise his
judgement having had the opportunity to make preliminary investigations." Rightly
the Cardinal had had the last word in this extraordinary matter. Glazebrook had
lost! What a monumental ego he had.
In November final accounts were received from the College solicitors and the
Cardinal's solicitors, totalling £3852.50, raising the total legal costs to £6900 (check).
Looking back I can see that my critics had set out early on to make life difficult for
me and seized upon the Bursar's problem as a way to do this. They formed a clique
whose criticism of me was fired by emotion and bigotry. They had wilfully
misunderstood the situation - and ignored the Employment Law element of the
problems. They had resorted to dirty tactics throughout. The fundamental
difference between the two active elements in the College lay in how they saw the
future of the College. On the one hand my critics; the core of this group represented
ultra-conservative catholicism, and they prosecuted the struggle with undiminished
acrimony until the bitter end. Not one new idea came from this group and they
made no real attempt to resolve the differences. On the other hand, my supporters
represented the forward-looking element in the Fellowship, and included seniors
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