The troubled chancellor of UC Davis resigned today following the completion of an investigation that called into question her actions as head of the university. The Chronicle reports that Linda Katehi's resignation is effectively immediately.
Katehi had been suspended since April after news broke that she paid a private company $175,000 in public funds to scrub the internet of images relating to the infamous 2011 pepper-spray incident.
The report released today, however, was not focused on her dealings surrounding the pepper spraying of students. Rather, one of the main charges against Katehi was that she had given her campus-employed daughter-in-law $50,000 in raises along with other inappropriate benefits to her also campus-employed son.
According to the Chronicle, UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement that the investigation found "numerous instances where Chancellor Katehi was not candid, either with me, the press, or the public, that she exercised poor judgment and violated multiple university policies.”
Rosa Guzman, Katehi's lawyer, meanwhile sent out a press release this afternoon claiming that her client had been cleared of any wrongdoing. "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,” read the statement.
The report itself has yet to be released, so at this time we'll have to assume that Katehi's resignation means that there is something at least damning — even if not criminal — in the report.
Katehi was paid a salary of $420,000 as chancellor, and her contract with the university means that she will still be able to stay on as a faculty member (she previously taught engineering). We're sure the engineering department is stoked.
Previously: UC Davis Chancellor Placed On Leave Following Attempt To Scrub Pepper Spray Cop From Internet