Sky News presenter Colin Brazier has revealed his 18-year-old daughter Edith was forced by University authorities to choose between continuing with her studies or spending time with her mother who has terminal cancer.
Mr Brazier, who is married to former TV news editor Joanna Roughton, said his wife was recently told by consultants that her breast cancer was terminal.
In a column in the Catholic Herald, Mr Brazier said his wife was first told she had cancer more than five years ago, when their youngest of six children was yet to start school.
Sky News presenter Colin Brazier, pictured with his wife Jo and their children from left to right, Constance, John-Jo, Katharine, Edith, Agnes and Gwendolyn, has revealed the tragic news that his wife’s breast cancer has become terminal
Mr Brazier, pictured with his wife Jo on their wedding day, said his wife was first diagnosed with breast cancer more than five years ago before all their six children had started school
Mr Brazier said he was touched by the kindness shown by many people to his family following the terrible diagnosis, however, he was highly critical of Royal Holloway college in Surrey where their eldest child, Edith, is enrolled on a geology course.
He wrote: ‘The only sour note was struck by staff at Royal Holloway College, which is part of the University of London. Our eldest is in the first year of a geology degree there. She enjoys the course and has been doing well. She faced a difficult choice: drop out and forfeit all the work she’s done, or be absent from her mother’s side during what may be the final few weeks of her life.
‘Bravely, and without prompting, she has decided to halt her studies and start again in September. The college authorities were blunt to the point of insensitivity. They wanted to see proof of her mother’s illness and insisted that she leave her hall of residence room within a matter of days. Perhaps it’s a reaction to all that talk of a higher education sector laid low by trigger warnings and safe spaces.’
Mr Brazier said he has been astounded by the good wishes shown by most people to his family following his wife’s diagnosis – apart from officials at Royal Holloway College in London
However, the Sky News presenter praised the schools attended by the couple’s other children for their pastoral care, including one grammar school which has given a daughter a blue card to place on her desk to show she is feeling blue.
He added: ‘For a hard-bitten journalist, schooled in the cynicism of the daily news cycle, this abundance of charity and tactful expressions of sympathy are little short of a revelation.’
Mr Brazier said his wife handled telling their children of her diagnosis ‘like the still centre of calm surrounded by swirling eddies of emotion’.
A college spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Royal Holloway, University of London, is a close knit community and we take the welfare and well-being of all our students very seriously.
‘We recognise that circumstances may mean a student needs to interrupt their studies and, when this happens, we always seek to be supportive and sensitive to the individual concerned.
‘However, there are a number of steps we must follow to ensure that the reason for the break in studies is properly recorded. We always hope that the student will be able to resume their studies.
‘By going through these steps, it means that, if the student wishes to resume their studies in the future, their return to university can be as seamless as possible. We appreciate that the wording of documents and information which need to be completed may seem very formal, particularly, as in the case of Mr Brazier’s daughter, when the circumstances surrounding the interruption are already very distressing.
‘We would like to take this opportunity to offer our apologies to the family for any additional distress the procedures required for interruption caused. This was never our intention, and we will look again at our approach so that we can learn and improve for the future.’