Cambridge University may have to send the bailiffs to the home of lecturer Gill Evans, who is refusing to pay Pounds 15,000 in legal costs awarded against her in court.
Cambridge secured the Pounds 15,000 cost of a day in court with Dr Evans, but only at the cost of another day in court. The university is facing increasing criticism for spending more than Pounds 250,000 on legal bills last year - compared with Cambridge's average of Pounds 90,000 per year.
Dr Evans, who earns Pounds 29,000 a year, has led complaints that universities are spending too much public money on legal fees without proper accountability. She says that Cambridge's spending on the action brought by her was unnecessary because she was always willing to compromise and it was over-extravagant.
Dr Evans made a speech in senate last month in which she itemised legal costs such as Pounds 140-an-hour for the services of a partner and Pounds 46 for a 20-minute phone call.
She also pointed out that transparency was a crucial issue. The speech has yet to appear in the university reporter, which usually reports all speeches verbatim, the following week.
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Contact Phil Baty on 0171 782 3298 or email him onpbaty@thes.co.uk