The president of Dublin City University, Prof Ferdinand von Prondzynski, has personally apologised to the university's chancellor, Miss Justice Carroll, after he accidentally sent a late-night e-mail critical of her to the university's entire governing authority.
In the e-mail he said that the running of the governing authority was "in a little rut".
Miss Justice Carroll, who did not receive the e-mail herself but who was sent a copy by The Irish Times, has chosen not to comment on the incident.
As well as personally apologising to Miss Justice Carroll, Prof von Prondzynski also sent out a general apologetic e-mail to all members of the governing authority, in which he stated that he had intended sending the e-mail only to senior management colleagues. By sending it to the entire governing body " embarrassed myself late at night after a long day", he stated.
In the original e-mail, sent at 12.30 a.m., Prof von Prondzynski said the chancellor "should have stopped" what he considered to be "an extraordinary little episode" at a meeting of the governing authority.
As a result, the meeting was "less than perfect".
Prof von Prondzynski stated that in his "honest" opinion, a person who distributed a document at the meeting "should have been stopped by Mella the moment it became clear what was in her (unannounced) little paper, and indeed she should have been stopped from distributing that without notice."
He continued: "That's probably my fault (not Mella's) and I'll be more careful in preparing the ground for items raised by others."
He stated: "We are having to go back too often to get more information for a decision another time, which tells me we are not coming to the meetings with enough information in what we are distributing.
"None of this is a criticism (of anyone other than me, as I am responsible for running this) but I am determined to move the governing authority out of this particular little rut".
Fifteen minutes later, at 12.46 a.m., the DCU president wrote a second e-mail, stating: "Dear colleagues, I must apologise for misdirecting my last e-mail which was intended for the senior management colleagues. Particular apologies to any named individuals in that e-mail.
"Having so misdirected the e-mail, let me assure you that my main objective is to ensure that the preparation of materials for the meetings gives complete and useful information on which the members of the governing authority can properly take decisions. . ."
"Having in this way embarrassed myself late at night after a long day, let me assure all members of the Governing Authority that I greatly value your support for DCU and your role on the Authority."
The "little episode" in the original e-mail referred to a faculty and governing authority member who distributed a document to the authority without the permission of the president. The document argued that the president's decision to suspend intake in September 2003 for an evening part-time computer course, so that the course could be reviewed, may result in the demise of the programme by the time it was reintroduced in 2004. Numbers of students wanting to study computing have been falling.
Prof von Prondzynski says that he is fully committed to part-time evening studies in the category of lifelong learning.