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posted by cmn32480 on Friday April 29 2016, @01:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the misappropriation-of-funds dept.

El Reg reports

Linda Katehi, the chancellor of the University of California, Davis, has been suspended pending an investigation into the decision to spent hundreds of thousand of dollars improving Google search results for her name, amid a range of other questionable activities.

The decision to put Katehi on paid administrative leave was made by UC President Janet Napolitano, who wrote a two-page letter(PDF) to Katehi noting she would be suspended for 90 days pending the outcome of a "rigorous and transparent investigation."

The revelation that Katehi's office had spent $175,000 in an effort to "achieve a reasonable balance of positive natural search results on common terms concerning UC Davis and Chancellor Katehi" was dug out by the Sacramento Bee looking into why UC Davis' "strategic communications budget" had jumped from $2.93M in 2009 to $5.47M in 2015.

The events Katehi was seeking to whitewash--when security officers pepper-sprayed sitting students back in 2011--received nationwide press attention for the seemingly callous way in which the undergraduates were treated. The news that the university had secretly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to remove that reputational stain was similarly covered.

[...] Napolitano's letter also puts a spotlight on other concerns over Katehi's behavior, including the employment of her son, her husband, and her daughter-in-law by the university.

[...] The letter [also] refers to complaints that student fees have been used for "unapproved instructional purposes" which would be "a serious violation of University policy".

[...] UC Davis students have been holding rallies calling for Katehi's resignation for over a week.

Previous: University of California in Davis Spent $175k on SEO and "Reputation Management"


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 29 2016, @01:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 29 2016, @01:48PM (#338908)

    Nobody gets to spend almost $200,000 without accomplices.

    Let's assume she's the "fall gal" here and keep identifying other miscreants, possibly higher up the food chain...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 29 2016, @02:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 29 2016, @02:00PM (#338924)

    Shes the top dog at UC Davis and called the shots. Katehi has been horrible from the start. Decision after decision Katehi has made the wrong choice. Too many of them for me to want to list while I sit on the toilet.
    I for one am glad she is not running the show at UC Davis anymore.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday April 29 2016, @02:03PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 29 2016, @02:03PM (#338926) Journal

    Nobody gets to spend almost $200,000 without accomplices.

    Really now?!? I know persons who would not even blink the waste them in a single day.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Nerdfest on Friday April 29 2016, @04:33PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Friday April 29 2016, @04:33PM (#339022)

    This "higher up" [dhs.gov] will bring back a lot of wonderful memories. I'm sure she's completely uninvolved in any misdeeds of course.