If UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi had decent judgment, she would have quit by now.
So it’s well past time for UC regents to push her out the door.
UC is in the middle of a multi-year battle with the state government over funding. The state legislature has succeeded in having things both ways: locking in low levels of funding for UC, while criticizing the way UC copes with lower funding levels. Recently, the state’s attack has focused on the big increases in the number of out-of-state students admitted.
The UC needs to win this fight—for the good of California. Right now, it’s having a tough time. So UC can’t afford to keep around someone like Katehi, who makes the system look bad.
Katehi’s judgment is epically bad. The latest – claims that UC Davis scrubbed the Internet of the famous pepper-spraying of students a few years ago – have led to multiple calls for her resignation. (Previous revelations about money she was making from textbook companies for board service haven’t helped).
Remarkably, however, she is holding on, and UC Davis administrators are pushing back against the stories. That’s bad strategy—and will only help the state in its effort to keep funding low and its influence high.