The process is Baylor's business and evidently the president and others had the power to do what they did. I heard arguments made here that employees do not determine university policies during the discussion of "hiring and firing". So beefs by the employees of the university are just beefs.
In using offshoot, I meant that it was fulfilling some purpose of the IFL and not some purpose of other parts of Baylor(to include the science departments). I don't know if your argument would be valid if the center was made explicitly a part of the IFL other factors remaining the same. I feel that the reaction would have been the same. But that is all hypothetical.
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,
True, but the genesis of the food fight was not his fault. And Dembski was the target, since the center in function, no longer exists.
Okay on your Dembski feelings. I have no reason to challenge your opinion, but I also have no reason to support them except for the failure to retract his statement at the request of his mentor. That is wrong. He should have resigned at that point, said thanks, and not remained to be demoted.
That would have been the honorable thing to do. He said he came out on top since he effectively got a five-year sabbatical out of it (he didn't have any actual duties as part of the IFL). If I were a cynic, which I am, I'd be entertaining the thought that he gamed everything to get this result. He gets to claim victim, gets free publicity, gets to keep his job with no responsibility, pretty sweet.