Chairperson of the Board of Trinity College Dublin, Paul Farrell, and other Board members expressed their concerns over continued Board leaks in published minutes from a May 22nd Board meeting. Chairperson Farrell described Board members experiencing “considerable personal distress” over the leaks that have been ongoing over the past four years.
As summarised in the May 22nd minutes, Board members expressed that these ongoing breaches of confidentiality have a “chilling effect on free speech” and must not be ignored. It was also stated that it would “not be usual for Boards to not have measures in place to deal with such breaches”. Additionally, as these Board leaks have been occurring over the past four years, there had been past warnings by the then Chair of the Board (now Provost) that it “would be necessary to put measures in place” if breaches continued.
The minutes then noted the response of Chairperson Farrell in which he acknowledged sanctions against breaches are upheld in other universities, though there are no such provisions in the current Trinity Statues. It is then stated that Farrell observed such sanctions would “provide a mechanism to deal with egregious misbehaviour by Board members”.
Provost, Dr Linda Doyle, indicated that the “suggestion of delineating sensitive items as confidential would be considered”. She additionally expressed her openness to work with Board members who may be responsible for informing constituencies about Board meeting issues.
Paul Farrell ended the meeting’s discussion over the breaches by “acknowledging the sensitivity of introduction sanctions so soon after recent events”. It is crucial to note that this May 22nd board meeting was held just days after Trinity students concluded their successful BDS encampment protest over Trinity’s connection to Israel. However, the conversation sanctions around aforementioned breaches have been ongoing, particularly at the Board’s February 2023 meeting in which a decision to draft rules for consideration had been made. Minutes from the February meeting record that “given the potentially serious and damaging consequences resulting from breaches, the Board approved a proposal to request the Registrar to draft proposed sanctions clauses for inclusion in the Statutes and to bring these to a future meeting of the Board for approval”.
Farrell then noted that it would be a conflict of interest to chair the future discussion of leaks, as he himself had been “personally impacted by a breach”. It was then decided by the Board that the Deputy Chairperson, Mary Kelly, would take up that responsibility in the future. In addition to this decision, it was also determined that the Secretary to the College/ Director of Governance, Victoria Butler, would “liaise with the Registrar to review the process of succession planning following the removal of a Board member”, expressing the necessity for a “robust” plan for such replacements to be made.
To conclude the discussion surrounding the breaches, members of the Board agreed that conversation encompassing the item should “remain strictly confidential”.
