The dean of computing must be respected by the academic staff and be

Question

The dean of computing must be respected by the academic staff and be competent to oversee the use of computers on campus. The only deans whom academics respect are those who hold doctoral degrees, and only someone who really knows about computers can competently oversee the use of computers on campus. Furthermore, the board of trustees has decided that the dean of computing must be selected from among this university’s staff. Therefore, the dean of computing must be a professor from this university’s computer science department.

Which one of the following statements, if true, would weaken the argument?

(A) There are members of this university’s staff who hold doctoral degrees and who are not professors but who really know about computers.

(B) There are members of this university’s philosophy department who do not hold doctoral degrees but who really know about computers.

(C) Computer science professors who hold doctoral degrees but who are not members of this university’s staff have applied for the position of dean of computing.

(D) Several members of the board of trustees of this university do not hold doctoral degrees.

(E) Some members of the computer science department at this university are not respected by academics in other departments.

Same passage with different stem question:  LINK

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

(A) Yes.  The argument sets up three criteria for the dean of computing:

1) She must have a doctoral degree.
2) She must really know about computers.
3) She must be selected from among the university’s staff.

The argument then concludes that the dean of computing must be a professor from this university’s computer science department. However, this answer-choice states that there are people who satisfy all three criteria yet are not professors.

(B) No. The argument sets up three criteria for the dean of computing:

1) She must have a doctoral degree.
2) She must really know about computers.
3) She must be selected from among the university’s staff.

This answer-choice does not meet criterion 1.

(C) No. The argument sets up three criteria for the dean of computing:

1) She must have a doctoral degree.
2) She must really know about computers.
3) She must be selected from among the university’s staff.

This answer-choice does not meet criterion 3.

(D) No. This is irrelevant.

(E) No. The argument sets up three criteria for the dean of computing:

1) She must be respected by the academic staff (must have a doctoral degree).
2) She must really know about computers.
3) She must be selected from among the university’s staff.

This answer-choice weakens the argument only if all members of the computer science department are not respected.

sobby · Answer

A is answer :

Premise:
1.Position of dean requires doctoral degree and computer knowledge --- only requirement 
2.Trustee says elected member must be professor

A contradict and says that there are university’s staffs who fulfill criteria 1 but not 2...

arpitalewe · Answer

Can you explain why B is wrong as B and A seems to convey same idea?

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

Yeah good question - the devil is really in the details here...Critical Reasoning thrives on precision in wording.

Note the qualifications outlined in the stimulus. This job must go to:

-Someone with a doctorate
-Someone from the university staff
-Someone who really understands computers

And then they take a leap in the conclusion to combine all three...instead of someone having those three qualifications independently (maybe a doctorate in biology but works in the library and just really gets computer) they conclude that it has to be a professor from the CS department. That's the gap...the conclusion assumes that all three qualifications must be related.

Note that with B, the person in question DOES NOT have a doctorate, so they don't match on one important characteristic. Therefore they're not a good example of someone who fits all three, just not for the same reason. Whereas with A, it's someone who fits all three...the one thing they miss on is "professor" but that's not a requirement.

RohitSaluja · Answer

As mentioned in the argument, whoever gets selected must also be respected. For one to be respected he/she must have a doctorate  and  be competent to know computers. In option B only fulfills the second criteria, so he/she is not fit for the job

vaibhav_bisht · Answer

Can anybody help me in this question and tell me why C is not the answer 
as per my understanding
3 condition 
dean should be well respected how they are well respected as they have PHD degreee
Know computer so to implement the assumption here that they know about the computer 
they are working on univerisity 
so 2 conditon are already fulfiled as computer scince proffesor they will have the PHD 
University staff yes as they are proffesor in univiersity they will be the staff so two condtion was fulfilled 
so weakner will be either the proffesor of computer doesnot have the enough knowledge as it is assumption but i think it cann't be some other person is the have more knowlwge than of computer please tell me my reasoning and where i am faulting

guddo · Answer

The dean of computing must be respected by the academic staff and be competent to oversee the use of computers on campus. The only deans whom academics respect are those who hold doctoral degrees, and only someone who really knows about computers can competently oversee the use of computers on campus. Furthermore, the board of trustees has decided that the dean of computing must be selected from among this university’s staff. Therefore, the dean of computing must be a professor from this university’s computer science department.
 
 Which one of the following statements, if true, would weaken the argument?

The argument establishes three requirements for the dean: the person must have a doctoral degree, really know about computers, and be a member of this university’s staff.  The conclusion goes further  and claims that the person must therefore be a professor in the computer science department. The best weakener shows that  someone can satisfy all three requirements without being such a professor .

(A) There are members of this university’s staff who hold doctoral degrees and who are not professors but who really know about computers.

Correct.   These people satisfy all three stated requirements: they are university staff members, they have doctoral degrees, and they really know about computers. Yet they are not professors. Therefore, the stated requirements do not force the dean to be a professor from the computer science department.

(B) There are members of this university’s philosophy department who do not hold doctoral degrees but who really know about computers.

Incorrect. These people fail the doctoral-degree requirement, so they do not provide an alternative candidate who satisfies all the stated conditions.

(C) Computer science professors who hold doctoral degrees but who are not members of this university’s staff have applied for the position of dean of computing.

Incorrect. The argument explicitly requires the dean to be selected from this university’s staff. These applicants are not members of the staff, so they are ineligible regardless of their degrees or computer knowledge. Their applying does not weaken the conclusion.

(D) Several members of the board of trustees of this university do not hold doctoral degrees.

Incorrect. The qualifications of the board members are irrelevant. The argument concerns the qualifications required of the dean.

(E) Some members of the computer science department at this university are not respected by academics in other departments.

Incorrect. The conclusion does not say that every member of the computer science department is qualified to become dean. Some members can fail the respect requirement while the eventual dean could still be a qualified member of that department.

Answer: (A)

The dean of computing must be respected by the academic staff and be

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The dean of computing must be respected by the academic staff and be

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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