Who started the food fight is another question. It is the right of Baylor to determine what is taught at the University. As I pointed out, the Truett seminary was also a part of Baylor. Evidently the Polanyi center began as an offshoot of the IFL. Other than after the event that resulted in the absorption of the Polanyi Center, established in Oct. 1999, I do not encounter any active efforts of Dembski to attack other faculty and sow discord. Look here, The Academic Intelligent Design Controversy: William Dembski and Baylor University or any other place to provide the evidence that Dembski was the instigator of the food fight.
The first action was the creation of the Polanyi center without any of the normal process. The reaction was the faculty calling for it to be ended. We'll probably disagree on the question of which one of these actions constituted the first throw of food. I do believe that it would have been made part of the IFL if it had gone through the normal process in the first place, and the whole mess could have been avoided.
Evidently the Polanyi center began as an offshoot of the IFL.
Nope, see above. If it had been part of the IFL, then there would have been no purpose in the independent review board deciding it become part of the IFL as the Program in Science, Philosophy and Religion. The administration worked hard to defuse the situation and make sure everyone was happy, or at least accepting, of the resolution.
I do not encounter any active efforts of Dembski to attack other faculty and sow discord.
He was still director after the decision to be part of the IFL. Then he unnecessarily restarted the food fight with his letter that antagonized the faculty, and that's what got him demoted. There's no way anyone can reasonably claim persecution or witch hunt (but then this is Dembski), because Dembski had gone so far that his main defender, the one who got him the job, was the one to demand he retract his statement.
There's disagreement/agreement, and then there's not being able to stand someone. Dembski is belligerent and always looking for a fight, dumbing down the debate with childishness, and completely lacking in graciousness, so I can't stand him. OTOH, I agree with a lot of what Dawkins says, but I can't stand him for pretty much the same reasons.