In the case of mediation of disputes between individual students and faculty, the Dean's impartiality is even more crucial. All parties involved have to be able to trust the Dean as an ombudsman or the system breaks down. A part-time dean who is also active faculty is put in a very sticky situation to have to deal with these cases. This puts any decisions the Dean may make as ombudsman into serious question and will make the Dean ineffective to solve individual disputes with any finality. A part-time Dean who is also faculty creates an obvious conflict of interest.
Faculty have different interests than students when it comes to graduate education.
A wise university vice president once pointed out to me that a university only functions well as a delicate balance between the interests of students, staff, faculty, and administrators. If any of these groups were to succeed in a hegemony over the others, the results would be devastating for the university. For this reason, I think that the Provost should reconsider his preliminary proposal. At the Graduate Student Senate meeting on Wednesday, March 7th, the Senate will be considering a resolution to convey our concerns as students to the Provost and University President. For more information, you can see the agenda for the meeting online.