How Well Was the Incident Handled by University Officials - Case Study Example

How well was the incident handled by officials? Why? With respect to the level of professionalism that the incident was handled by university officials there remains a number of points in which key failures could be noted. Firstly, once the university officials found out that such egregious violations of moral turpitude had existed and to a large extent been facilitated via the use and abuse of power that the position he held denoted, there should have been a swift action on the board of trustees and others to ensure that his position(s) within the university were vacated and any and all connections that he formerly had with the school negated. However, instead, Dr Jameson was allowed to resign his post as president while maintaining his position as a tenured professor. The fact of the matter is that the school made a massive error in judgment in continuing to allow someone such as Dr Jameson to continue to hold any positions whatsoever within the framework of the university no matter what the degree of notoriety, esteem, and money that his efforts had brought to the institution. Moreover, rather than providing access to a pension plan or a severance package immediately after the incident came to light or upon firing Dr. Jameson, the university instead dragged their collective feet and only seemed to withdraw such an offer after a broad outcry within and without of the university; further hurting the university’s credibility. 2. What do you think would have been the best way for legal authorities to have dealt with Jameson's behaviour? As was described in the case, the legal authorities that dealt with this particular case acted in the only reasonsable way that they could have. The evidence was gathered, individuals were interviewed, and after it was proven that the calls originated from the private office of Dr. Jameson official charges were announced. Many might counter that these charges were too lenient; however, the fact remains that even though these calls were reprehensible, Dr. Jameson did not in fact engage in any of the activities that he discussed. 3. Was it a wise decision to allow Dr Jameson to once again teach courses to (under)graduate students? Why (not)? It is the strong belief of this student that the decision to allow Dr Jameson to resign was entirely incongruous with the allowance that he remained tenured and on staff as a lecturer. If the offense that Dr Jameson was required to resign from was so severe that the university could not afford the backlash of retaining him as the university president it was therefore also so severe as to warrant that he be dismissed or forced to resign from any and all other positions with which he could represent the university; to include his teaching position. 4. Could Dr Jameson in your opinion be reappointed at some future time as a president of a university? To say categorically that Dr Jameson could not be reappointed at some time in the future is a broad and categorical statement to make; however, it is the belief of this student that to do so would be to minimize the incident that precipitated his fall in the first place. Although Dr Jameson may have many good factors associated with his work and the level of dedication, notoriety, and esteem that he brought to the university, the fact of the matter is that his actions have necessarily precluded any possibility that he should reasonably expect to return to the university and continue to play a part in its direction. 5. Discuss how students, faculty, victims, the wider community and the Board of Trustees probably feel about the fact that Dr Jameson is teaching again. With regards to the broad campus wide sentiment, there appears to be a state of astonishment on the part of both faculty and students with regards to the fact that Dr Jameson is allowed to be on campus and teaching no less. Moreover, such an action does little to bolster the feelings of those within the university that the board of trustees and others are capable of making informed and moral decisions not affected by personal connections and the influence that powerful individuals such as Dr Jameson might affect (Chunyan et al 2011). 6. Do you think that Jameson's emotional disorders affect his profess­ional functioning and indeed should have consequences for his (further) career? Why? Although some might be quick to dismiss the actions that Jameson took based upon the many good things he had done in his career, it is the belief of this student that his actions directly reflect on his functioning and career due to the fact that he made this obsene phone calls from his own office, during work hours; obviously so obsessed with these particular forms of perversions that he was not even able to concentrate on his own work without giving in to such depraved behavior. As such, this is an action that has and could potentially continue to have severe and profound effects on the future career of Dr Jameson. 7. Would a European university have dealt differently with similar behaviour? Why? It is impossible to state definitively the way that a nameless European university may have dealt with this situation; however, using basic logic and understanding of the way that non-criminal acts of harassment are dealt with in Europe it is highly conceivable that Dr Jameson may here merely received a symbolic slap on the wrist for such behavior. 8. Do you think the outcome of the case would have been different had it not involved a university president but rather a student, or administrative staff, or a president of a commercial institution? It is highly likely and probably that if the incident had involved someone other than a university president than the result could have been drastically different. The main reason for this is due to the fact that as a president of a university tasked with providing the students with the tools necessary for them to make the difficult transition from childhood into adulthood, the university professionals are seen as responsible gatekeepers in this process of maturity. However, the actions taken by Dr Jameson lie in stark contrast to such an end. Therefore, the bar was held higher in his case; albeit, in the mind of this student, still not high enough. 9. Should the University have taken legal action to fire Dr Jameson for moral turpitude? It is the further belief of this student that the university should have taken legal action against Dr Jameson, or merely threatened such legal action, if he did not voluntarily resign any and all of his positions from the university upon finding out that full extent of the crimes that he was charged with. However, opening legal action against him had he chosen to resign from all positions would have had a zero sum gain and merely added to the media circus that subsequently lowered the perception of the school already (Hoppe 1976). 10. Do you agree that college presidents should be given tenure in academic departments and thus given the security of a position at the university no matter how they function as CEOs? Give your reasons. A very personal belief of this author has to do with the fact that tenure itself has no place in the academic world. No other job that comes to mind allows an individual to merely reach a certain point and then have guaranteed job security regardless of the manner in which one conducts oneself or the overall effort one puts into teaching/lecturing/or publishing (Asrelsky 2009). As such, tenure is an antiquated concept that merely allows a vague cover for many lazy professors to merely ride the system and put very little effort into furthering the education that they are tasked with providing their students. References Asrelsky, A. (2009). The Purpose of Tenure for Any Generation. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 56(7), B18. Chunyan, C., & Yinglin, L. (2011). Cultural Responsibility of Subjects in Moral Education in Colleges and Universities. Asian Social Science, 7(7), 159-162. Hoppe, A. (1976). The Teaching Implications of Being Sinful. Learning. Read More