It is not irreversible, just irreversible pending a full hearing. There is no effective way for OFFICE to do what you suggest.
Fred
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Of course there is. Jimbo has OFFICE, so does the Foundation. If they place an OFFICE tag on the article, along with "Any creation or unprotection of this page must first be discussed with the office", that's the end of the story. But they decline to do that except in very rare cases, and that's a Good Thing-it is and generally should be up to the community to decide.
Now, that's not even to say I'm saying it would be bad for ArbCom to decide. In many cases, that really might be the best thing. But I'm not sure it would be in all cases, nor am I sure about ArbCom's area of authority extending over content issues without so much as a discussion of whether or not that should happen. I might, myself, even support such a step. But it shouldn't just happen.
The expansion is not of the arbitration committee's power but of the responsibility of administrators to take effective action, assuming responsibility that it was justified. But that action needs to be soundly based on policy.
Fred