Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management community is shocked following the arrest of the school’s former dean on charges related to prostitution, but not worried about its future as a top business school in the country.

“He seemed like a stand-up guy,” said Michael Shaw, a Class of 2016 Whitman alumnus. “No one saw it coming.”

Kenneth Kavajecz, 51, was arrested last week on a misdemeanor of patronizing a person for prostitution in the third degree in the town of Salina, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office confirmed Friday. He is due to appear in the Town of Salina Court on Sept. 29.

The Sheriff’s Office said in a press release Friday that no further information will be released because the investigation is ongoing.

Kavajecz was removed Wednesday from his position as dean and put on administrative leave from his faculty position. Mike Haynie, SU’s vice chancellor for veterans and military affairs, will serve as the acting head of the school until an interim dean is named.

In a meeting with the Whitman community on Friday, shortly before further news on Kavajecz’s arrest was made public, SU’s Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly declined to give a timeline on when an interim or permanent dean will be named.

Following the report of Kavajecz’s arrest, Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs at SU, released a short statement saying Kavajecz’s alleged behavior did not occur on campus and was unrelated to his responsibilities as dean.

In 2014, Kavajecz made $496,448, according to the latest tax forms available.

The Daily Orange reached out to numerous Whitman faculty and student organizations, but all of them either could not be reached for comment or declined to comment at all.

Harry Dittrich, a junior finance and accounting major, previously took a finance course with Kavajecz. Dittrich said he was shocked when he heard about the arrest Friday.

“He always seemed to be one of the most, like, stand-up, honorable guys,” Dittrich said. “He seemed to be a great fit to lead Whitman. Honestly, I couldn’t be more surprised about this.”

The former dean was not teaching any courses this semester.

Vatsal Popat, a second-year Whitman MBA student, said he was surprised to hear about Kavajecz being arrested on criminal charges but he is not rushing to judge whether he is guilty or not.

“People love him,” Popat said. “Like all of my friends and all of my classmates appreciate him because he has been a very nice person.”

Popat added that even though Kavajecz is gone, the incident will not negatively affect his career since his future depends on him as much as it depends on the school.

Kavajecz was instrumental in making Whitman more competitive and rebranding the school into a top-ranked institution. Under his leadership, Whitman climbed Bloomberg’s best business school rankings nearly every year, from No. 72 in 2013 to No. 23 in Bloomberg’s most recent rankings.

Shaw, the Class of 2016 Whitman alumnus, said the incident is unfortunate, but he is excited about the direction the business school is heading — a view held by many other Whitman students.

“So I have great faith that we’re going to keep rising in the same direction,” Shaw said. “So while I think it’s really unfortunate, I think we still have a bright future ahead of us.”

For Carter Morris, a freshman finance major, the arrest has not deterred his excitement to be at Whitman. Both his Whitman professors and Wheatly, SU’s vice chancellor and provost, have assuaged any fears he might have had about the his future in Whitman, he said.

“I’m confident they’re going to find someone good to replace him,” he added.

Marshall Ruffing, a sophomore finance major, is still coming to terms with Kavajecz’s arrest. Although he said Kavajecz’s arrest will not impact his own education in the short-term, his personal view on the former dean has changed.

“I mean, he is so experienced in the financial field and had such great education and this pretty much threw it all away,” Ruffling said.

Published on September 18, 2016 at 7:24 pm

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