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Earlier this year, we discussed how UC Davis detailed in a report that it spent $175k with a reputation management firm to try bury the 2011 pepper-spraying incident that has become so infamous, as well as to bolster the positive reputation and search results of its former Chancellor, Linda Katehi.
[...] A new report has been issued that makes it clear that the $175k with the one reputation management vendor was just the tip of the iceberg, and that Katehi's obsession with her own online reputation was far more serious than anyone had known. Indeed, her attempts to meddle in her own online search results started long before the 2011 pepper-spraying incident.
[...] While the initial reporting indicated a single vendor had been paid $175k on Katehi's request to try to control messaging about the school and herself through a barrage of good, but trumped up, press, UC Davis actually hired three different reputation management firms to do this, all to the tune of over $400k. And she appears to have been more concerned with her own reputation than that of the school she was to be stewarding.
[...] It goes without saying that as we, the link above, and several other online media outlets are discussing these revelations, and placing them alongside the original 2011 incident for context, the work of the three vendors and the nearly half a million dollars paid to them has failed.
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University of California in Davis Spent $175k on SEO and "Reputation Management"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hawkwind on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:56PM
An information note about this story. Not trying to beg away this behavior but it has not been shown that either student or state funds were used (I suspect this is true but I want to hedge a bit). Really this story, and the Berkeley story, are about a string of missteps adding up to create ineffective leadership, I would characterize it as tone-deafness. Katehi did a lot of great things for UC Davis (research connections, donations, quality of students and faculty, facilities). But while I wish her the best I'm happy she's not continuing as Chancellor.
Linda Katehi is an interesting tech story, if I have time I'll write a quick post later about her background and engineering accomplishmnts.