It could be someone already in the AD department, or they could hire someone to do the job. I have seen this twice in my career where a person was brought in as a consultant. They brought employees in to discuss issues and then they fired them. The people to e fired were already pre-selected. The consultant just did the dirty work. Easy to fire someone when you have NO vested interest in them. And easy on the college's side because they feel detached from the process. I'm surprised you guys never experienced this.