Last month, almost the entire department called for Professor Redmond's resignation. In a letter of protest they said his actions were taken in spite of their clear advice. "This regrettable incident is symptomatic for an autocratic management approach that flaunts [sic] the university's own directives and routinely ignores the advice of faculty executive academics and professional staff in the faculty.'' "The dean does not have the support of the academic staff and his position is now untenable." In a confidential memo obtained by the Herald, the university provost, Stephen Garton, conceded that other faculties had also breached the code of ethics governing use of the Universities Admissions Centre data. The revelations raise serious questions about the way universities use confidential information concerning thousands of students. Professor Kaji-O'Grady's announcement said she had resigned because ''senior management has consistently ignored my advice and counsel in making critical decisions that I do not believe to be in the best interests of the discipline''. She remains a member of the faculty. The 13 academics wrote to Professor Garton and the vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, demanding Professor Redmond's dismissal.

The students' names were available because they had applied to transfer to the institution through UAC, though they might not have listed it in first place. Under the code of ethics, universities may contact students who have applied to a course at that institution but may not solicit the student to change their order of preference. The Garton memo said: ''Architecture, design and planning was not the only faculty to breach the UAC rules and protocols this year, which suggests that the decentralised admissions process at Sydney is well overdue for serious reconsideration and reform." The managing director of the UAC, Andrew Stanton, said Sydney had informed him there had been a breach and had apologised to UAC but he had not been aware of the details, nor that there might have been other occurrences. Mr Stanton said UAC did not have to inform students of the wrongdoing, nor could it compel Sydney to do so. ''We don't have authority over universities in that way.''

His organisation reports to the NSW vice-chancellors' committee, which could determine if and what sanctions might apply. With a long-term decline in government funding and the recent drop in income from full fee-paying international students, universities are stretched for funds and must find ways to remain viable. But with the federal government providing funding this year for unlimited places, there has been a drive to increase the number of students at the university by 1600, which has alarmed academics already concerned about resourcing the existing number of students. The approach was an effort to boost student numbers by 30 per cent without compromising the architecture entry score of 96.95, thereby leaving intact the elite reputation of the course.

The acting vice-chancellor, Derrick Armstrong, acknowledged that ''the dean of our faculty of architecture mistakenly issued offer letters to a number of students in breach of the Universities Admissions Centre's guidelines''. ''This letter was unfortunate but with the co-operation of the dean, the university immediately put in place mechanisms to redress the problem.'' Do you know more? Contact edu@smh.com.au