The embattled chancellor of the University of California at Davis resigned on Tuesday, the president of the university system said, after allegations that the school spent $ 175,000 to cancel negative postings on the internet prompted an ethical investigation.
Linda Katehi was administratively suspended in April, days after the Sacramento Bee newspaper published documents indicating that the university paid consultants at least $ 175,000 to combat negative messages about the school and Katehi after the campus police student protesters in 2011.
Following the news, the President of the UC Office, Janet Napolitano, initiated an investigation into the allegations of social networks and other matters, including the employment of Katehi's immediate family members on the campus.
A redacted copy of the report provided by the university system said Katehi cheated and potentially lied to Napolitano and the public by saying she was not involved in the social media campaign.
The report also said that although there was no evidence of nepotism regarding the hiring of her son and daughter-in-law at school, Katehi did not strictly adhere to the university's policy on the matter.
Napolitano's office said the investigation "discovered that the chancellor had exercised a poor judgment, had not been sincere with the leadership of the University and had violated several policies of the University."
Katehi also faced questions about her acceptance of paid positions on the boards of DeVry Education Group and textbook editor John Wiley & Sons.
Katehi, who had been Chancellor since 2009, apologized in a letter to students in March for her role in DeVry, saying that it violated UC policy and that she had resigned from the position. She said that her time between 2011 and 2014 on the board of John Wiley & Sons, however, did comply with the university's policy.
Melinda Guzman, Katehi's attorney, said the investigation found "no violation of policies in the areas of alleged nepotism, conflicts, financial mismanagement of funds or personal gain."
Guzman told Reuters that Katehi would return to her faculty position as a distinguished professor in the faculty of engineering and would retain the title of chancellor emeritus.
Napolitano's office said that the search for a new chancellor would begin immediately and rector Ralph Hexter would continue to serve as interim chancellor.
The video showing protesting protesters sitting sprayed with pepper by campus police came to symbolize police aggression against protesters against Wall Street. School officials agreed in September 2012 to pay $ 1 million to settle a claim filed on the shares.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco, Dan Grebler edition)
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