Having received a little flak for his assertiveness, Vice President J.R. hired Tim Jones as Computer Center director and had Tim organize a computer usage committee of which Tim was chair. Tim selected three or four "rubber stampers" as members. It was also common practice at CCVU to have student council representatives serve on committees, so the student council assigned C.G. Farnsworth, a student, to serve on the committee. C.G. had a co-op job with Big Byte Computer Company and knew quite a lot about computers and their applications.

With a committee in place, J.R. was ready to bring in about 50 more computers. Tim recommended Tiddley computers over C.G.'s lone, dissenting voice, and purchased them directly from the Tiddley home office in Fort Worth (where Jim, R.R.'s son, worked) without going through the local Cripple Creek franchise, and without putting them out for bid. C.G.'s complaint was that Tiddley's computers were much too expensive when IBM clones were equal or better. Big Byte could have filled the order for half the price.

Questions:

Was J.R. putting some space between himself and computer usage decisions? Is anything wrong with that?

Did J.R. intend to maintain control while manipulating a dysfunctional committee?

Would the CCVU faculty see this as ethical?

Do Tim's actions seem ethical? Should he take any action?

Does Tim seem to be protecting J.R.'s family interests?

Is this an ethical approach?

Should the purchasing agent have said anything?