University of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi has been placed on paid leave “amid an uproar over her service on corporate boards and the school’s hiring of consultants to improve its image online.”
The latter is attached primarily to an incident in 2011 when university police pepper sprayed Occupy protesters.
Katehi also faces scrutiny over a raise and promotions given to her daughter-in-law, who’s chief of staff for the vice-chancellor for student affairs, and her acceptance of a board seat for a for-profit college company being investigated by the federal government.
[UC President Janet] Napolitano also expressed concern that the academic program where Katehi’s son has a paid research position was put under his wife’s supervision and that student fees may have been used inappropriately to finance the move.
“You have verbally assured me that all matters relating to the employment of your husband, son and daughter-in-law have been consistent with policies and procedures, but documents and other information appear contrary to that assurance,” Napolitano wrote to Katehi.
Napolitano’s announcement ended two days of tense speculation at the Davis campus over Katehi’s status.
RELATED: Police, Administrators at Fault in UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident
A petition to Napolitano circulated among faculty members and signed by more than 300 professors earlier Wednesday stated they believed Napolitano had asked Katehi to resign and voiced objection to “this peremptory action carried out without any consultation.”
Katehi added to the intrigue with a midday email to her deans and vice-chancellors in which she said she was “100 percent committed” to staying on as chancellor.
“I very much look forward to continuing to lead the campus to greater levels of success and excellence in the future,” she wrote.
The Davis Enterprise reports that “the Associated Students of UCD started the process of asking for Katehi’s resignation.”
Katehi’s attorney, Melinda Guzman, issued a statement regarding her client’s mandatory leave:
Tonight’s action is disappointing, unprecedented and, based on the facts, entirely unjustified […]
This smacks of scapegoating and a rush to judgment driven purely by political optics, not the best interests of the university or the UC system as a whole.
The Chancellor welcomes an independent, objective investigation and a full release of all relevant documents and public records.
Make no mistake: we intend to vigorously defend Linda’s professional reputation and her standing as Chancellor of the university she loves.
One letter from (some) faculty members criticizes Napolitano, noting that Katehi’s actions “clearly fall within the standards of UC-wide practice” and points out “female senior administrators and chancellors are subject to more negative criticism and harsher treatment than men.”
Read the full AP and Davis Enterprise articles.
RELATED: UC Davis Chancellor Survives No-Confidence Vote
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