The WORD Blog

His name at the time of his departure was Dean Erec R. Koch, a Ruth and Harold Newman Dean, and the Hunter community learned of his departure in a Tuesday, July 2 email: “I write with great regret to inform you that I will no longer serve as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to work with the talented and dedicated A&S faculty and staff during the past two years.*

Former Dean Erec R. Koch at the resignation party of Assistant Dean Maria Anderson

It was sent in the wake of brutally frank comments about President Raab in an earlier resignation letter by a former assistant dean to Dean Koch. In that earlier resignation letter, the resigning Assistant Dean, Maria Anderson, castigated Raab for “personal attacks”  and creating “a culture of fear and mistrust,” and she also wrote that Dean Koch had been targeted by President Raab. “It is quite clear that a witch-hunt against you is underway and that it includes an attempt  to fabricate instances of financial mismanagement on your part. You are certainly the prime target, though as the chief financial officer of the School, the daily expenditure decisions were largely mine to make,” Anderson wrote.

The names of others in the Dean’s office were mentioned in the email.

Dean Koch said at the resignation party for Dean Anderson that he had not been terminated. It was a wry comment without sarcasm. Several days later he announced his resignation.

This is the first of several stories.

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