Study Accommodates a College Boss

Study accommodates a college boss crossword clue. UK Daily Mail crossword puzzle on 13 June 2017, 4 letters.

The answer: DEAN

In academic administrations such as colleges or universities, a dean is the person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both. Deans are occasionally found in middle schools and high schools as well.

The term comes from the Latin decanus, “a leader of ten,” taken from the medieval monasteries (particularly those following the Cluniac Reforms) which were often extremely large, with hundreds of monks (the size of a small college campus). The monks were organized into groups of ten for administrative purposes, along the lines of military platoons, headed by a senior monk, the decanus.

The term was later used to denote the head of a community of priests, as the chapter of a cathedral, or a section of a diocese (a “deanery”).