In a sense that's what I meant, yes, Mathias.  Ambrose99 spoke of "the principle of academic freedom."  For university professors, that's protected by tenure - a right which I don't believe applies to administrative positions.  

Undoubtedly losing his position as Institute director means loss of money.  If Potter believes he was unfairly treated with respect to losing it, I imagine he has other legal recourse to try out.  Whether or not he'd be successful depends on the case the University can make about the damage done to the Institute's standing in the province.