Faculty in one of the schools at a Prestigious College, a private comprehensive four-year college, returned to fall semester only to find that the president had just told their dean to take a one year leave of absence and then his employment would be terminated. NO reason was given for the dean's dismissal.

An Acting Dean had been appointed for that academic year. He had been an administrator at the institution and was a tenured faculty member as well; for 25 years, a "company man" who had taken many special assignments from the president. He was 55, and had home and family well established in the community.

The acting dean actually ended up serving that role for 5 years. During that time the president told him to do the following:

1. Merge the faculty, curriculum, and administrative staffs into two schools. Faculty were unanimously opposed, as the disciplines were different and they believed the president's motives were to cut costs, not academically based.

2. Terminate several faculty members whom the president did not like, and block rank advancement for others.

3. Give preference to friends or relatives of influential people who wanted them immediately admitted to a highly respected program with a 2-3 year waiting list with applicants from all over the United States.

4. Keep secret from faculty and students in one program that within a year the program would be moved to a different regional campus, 400 miles away from the one at which it had been located for 20 years.

5. Hire a permanent dean after a two year national search, the president's choice, not being any of the five that the committee recommended. In fact the president's choice did not meet the qualifications listed in the position description, nor did he have experience, leadership, personality, or academic discipline that the faculty wanted. He was a black male, had been on the college's Board of Trustees, and a star athlete at the college 20 years earlier.

6. Turn down an invitation the Acting Dean received to apply for the presidency of another college.

7. The associate dean held a staff position with responsibilities to carry out assignments from the dean. It was a decision making position.

Questions:

Was the acting dean ethical in doing what the president told him to do? Would not doing so be disloyal?

Should the acting dean have refused to carry out the presidents mandates, thus incurring the probability of losing his job?

Should the associate dean have refused to carry out the Dean's assignments?

Would not have doing so been disloyal?

The faculty complained, expressed their alarm, some wrote letters to the Provost, or the President. The president did not sway from any of his decisions or demanded actions. Should the faculty have done anything more? If so, what?