The dean of the College of Communication at Boston University has admitted to The Boston Globe that he misstated an item on his c.v., which claimed he was one of just two doctoral students in social studies to have a dissertation approved at the University of Oxford in 1981. According to Oxford, 30 such degrees were awarded in 1980-81 and 41 in 1981-82. Mr. Schulz maintains that the mistake was unintentional, telling the newspaper: “I did not in any way mean to embellish a résumé or deceive anyone.”

The Globe reported in April that a debate was roiling the journalism department at Boston University, after Bob Zelnick stepped down as chair. Renata Adler, a former New Yorker writer who teaches in the department, has sent several widely distributed e-mail messages that have sharply criticized Mr. Schulz. She has complained that the dean has imposed his plans on the faculty and that he has ruled by intimidation. This week, Mr. Schulz told the Globe that Ms. Adler is on a “character assassination” campaign because her contract was not renewed.

Years ago, Mr. Schulz got into hot water for another misstatement. In 1999 he stepped down as head of the university’s mass-communications department after he failed to attribute a quotation he had included in a lecture to 400 freshmen (The Chronicle, December 9, 1999).