The dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine has been been relieved of his administrative duties, effective immediately, The Gainesville Sun reported, citing an announcement from the university’s president.

The dean, Bruce C. Kone, came under criticism recently after he admitted a politically connected applicant even though the student did not have the backing of the admissions committee. After newspapers reported the controversial admission, the university began searching through the e-mail messages of students and faculty members to find out who leaked the information.

Dr. Kone’s removal as dean was announced late this afternoon by the university’s president, J. Bernard Machen, and other senior leaders, the Sun reported. Dr. Kone will remain on the faculty at the medical school. —Charles Huckabee

Note: A comment on this blog item, posted on May 30, made light of the University of Florida dean’s dismissal and purported to come from James T. Willerson, who is president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Willerson says someone posing as him posted the comment. He has criticized The Chronicle for allowing it to appear online, and demanded that it be removed. The Chronicle removed the posting at his request.