Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi resigned as Chancellor of the University of California, Davis, effective Tuesday, Aug. 9.
The Chancellor’s announcement came after the release of an investigation report by outside counsel to the University of California that found no policy violations in the areas of alleged nepotism, conflicts, financial mismanagement of funds or personal gain. UC President Janet Napolitano placed Katehi on paid administrative leave April 27, 2016.
Chancellor Katehi’s attorney, Melinda Guzman, said in the release one hundred days ago, UC placed Linda Katehi on administrative leave on issues highlighting nepotism, conflicts of interest and misuse of student fee income. The UC Davis Academic Senate cleared Chancellor Katehi of wrongdoing within days of the leave.
“After interviewing more than 55 individuals, the investigators found that she properly disclosed family relationships and therefore recused herself and did not discuss, influence or involve herself with the education or employment of her family," Guzman added. "She was properly “walled off” from these relationships."
The release continues that she did not violate policies regarding student fees, she had no involvement in the line item budgets involved and there were no policy violations or management concerns.
“In fact, the so called whistleblower complaint had been resolved by the campus in 2014, the investigators asked the chancellor no questions regarding this issue during the investigation, and it never seemed reasonable to include this in the list of allegations,” Guzman said.
The report found these were never intended to benefit Linda Katehi and were not designed to "scrub the Internet" as inaccurately portrayed by the media. The report does not reach a conclusion that Katehi was untruthful, citing only that she may have minimized her knowledge or role in the contracts.
"In my opinion, there were many contracts, many goals and many people involved, leading to likely misunderstanding or miscommunication on these contracts,” Guzman said. "Linda Katehi and her family have been exonerated from baseless accusations of nepotism, conflicts of interest, financial management and personal gain, just as we predicted and as the UC Davis Academic Senate found within days of this leave."
In a statement from UC Davis President Janet Napolitano, the move follows an independent investigation that found the chancellor had exercised poor judgment, not been candid with University leadership, and violated multiple University policies. A search for Katehi’s successor will begin immediately. Ralph Hexter will continue to serve as the acting chancellor. Katehi will return to her position on the UC Davis faculty, in accordance with the terms of her contract.
