Rector Under Investigation Following Formal Complaint Over Union Office Space Dispute

The University of St Andrews and the Students’ Association are investigating Rector Stella Maris following complaints about her alleged behaviour during a dispute over her office in the Union building.

A University spokesperson told The Saint: “The University has received a formal complaint in relation to the Rector’s alleged behaviour in the Students’ Association building on July 3.”

The spokesperson added that “the complaint confirms that security were called and attended” and said the University could not comment further while the matter was under investigation.

The Students’ Association has also confirmed to The Saint that they are “currently carrying out an investigation into the events of Friday 3 July” and cannot comment further.

The Saint understands that the University and Union are launching their own respective investigations into Maris, which followed a confrontation between herself and Association CEO Graeme Kirkpatrick.

The dispute centres on Maris’s removal from her office inside the Union building. Maris said she arrived at the Union at around 9:20am on Monday 6 July and found that her key no longer worked. She also claimed that the sign identifying the Rector’s Committee office had been turned around.

“They didn’t tell me they were going to change the locks at all,” she told The Saint.

Maris told The Saint her belongings still remain inside the room, including “potentially confidential documents relating to student matters.” She said she had been told that her possessions would be boxed up and made available for collection by appointment only.

According to The Courier, The Students’ Association has said Maris was required to leave because of insufficient room for staff, student volunteers, and affiliated societies in the building.

In an email reported by The Courier, the Union Executive Team wrote that “Unfortunately, there is simply no space here.”

Maris has alleged that a different explanation was given to her during the confrontation with Kirkpatrick. “On paper, the Union claims this is a space issue,” she wrote on Instagram, adding, “In person I was told [by Kirkpatrick] I was somehow dangerous, and that this was the reason for the action being taken.” 

Maris told The Saint that the Students’ Association’s SRC Motion R-24-07 resolves that the Rector should have an office space in the Union.

The allegation that Maris was described as a danger has not been independently verified.

Maris “did not identify any formal complaint, investigation, risk assessment, finding, or evidence to support those claims,” supporting the allegation, according to The Courier. 

“I deny that I have ever posed a danger to staff,” she wrote on her Instagram page.

Maris told The Saint the dispute reflected what she described as a wider “culture of suspicion” within the Union.

“They would not speak to me,” she said. 

In conversation with The Saint, she claimed Kirkpatrick had been “making life incredibly difficult” for her and her Rector’s Assessor, former Association President Cam Brown.

“He has really encouraged an incredibly toxic environment where people spread rumours, make assumptions,” she said.

The Students’ Association and Kirkpatrick have not publicly responded to those specific allegations.

The dispute comes amid Rector Maris’s continuing conflict with the University over her position on the University Court. She was removed from the role in 2024, reinstated following an appeal, removed again in January 2026 and restored for a second time in March.

Maris is also pursuing legal action against the University in the Court of Session.

The University Rector shared an office with sabbatical officers during the 2023–24 academic year before she and Brown were moved into a temporary lobby area in the representation suite. They were later moved into the former main Star Radio studio.

Maris said the Union later suggested that she move into a University-managed room near the quadrangle. She rejected the proposal because she said she did not feel safe working in a University building during her wider dispute with senior management. “I don’t trust you,” she said she told University officials.

Maris and Brown were then offered Society Room C inside the Union for free until 1 July, after which the Union indicated in an email that they would “follow procedure for any other non-affiliated group or University staff member and charge [Maris] for the use of the space.”

Maris claims, however, that she and Brown were never offered the opportunity to pay to keep that space.

The Students’ Association has said Maris received six months’ notice that she would have to leave. Maris strongly disputes this.

“We kept trying to have conversations with them about the office,” she said. “They would not meaningfully speak to us.”

Maris said she and Brown arrived at the Union at around 5pm on Friday 3 July after attending graduation events. She told The Saint that she had been expected to clear the room and return her key by approximately 5:30pm.

“I told him [the CEO], ‘I’m not clearing out my office,’” she said. 

Maris questioned why the matter could not wait until the following Monday: “The idea that it’s a desperate space issue right now that can’t even wait until the end of the summer is bizarre to me,” she said.

Maris said the conversation became heated and alleged that Kirkpatrick told her that her behaviour was aggressive and unprofessional. She alleged to have attempted to walk away, but claimed Kirkpatrick followed her and Brown, continuing the exchange.

Maris told The Saint that “it wasn’t a situation that required intervention by security,” despite the University confirming security were called to the scene.

Maris submitted a complaint to the Students’ Association that evening alleging bullying and harassment.

She told The Saint she later only learned through The Courier that the Association was investigating the incident.

Maris said the Association subsequently described the process as a “fact-finding investigation,” but argued that her own complaint had not been publicly acknowledged by the Association.

She also questioned whether Brown had been interviewed before the investigation was announced. “As far as I know, they’ve not asked the one other witness who was there [and] they’ve not checked CCTV.”

Maris said she now had no permanent location from which to work or meet students. Asked where she would operate from, she said: “I have no idea.”

Writing publicly on Instagram, the Rector stated “In the absence of due process, transparency remains my only defence.”

Image Courtesy of The University of St Andrews