Showing posts with label Linda Katehi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linda Katehi. Show all posts

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Nicholas Dirks, UC Berkeley Chancellor, under investigation for "alleged misuse of public funds, personal use of campus fitness trainer"

The University of California rolls through scandals like a great battleship being assaulted by BB guns. Nothing seems to scathe it.

The University of California: The Teflon University System

Or--to switch my metaphor--the University of California might be called the ultimate teflon university system. Scandal slides right off it like a burned fried egg in a teflon-coated pan. Remember the UC Davis pepper-spray incident when campus police officers assaulted passive students with pepper spray--a weapon the officers weren't even authorized to use?

No big deal. UC simply got out its checkbook as if it were a middle-class householder paying the monthly bills. Around 20 or so assaulted students sued, but UC settled with them for a million bucks-mere pocket change. It even paid off one of the assaulting police officers who filed a disability claim, based on the stress he said he experienced from pepper spraying students.

Hey, that's only fair. If UC is going to pay off the victims of violence, it should compensate the perpetrators as well.

Then the Sacramento Bee reported that no fewer than nine UC campus chancellors were getting outside money from sitting on various corporate boards. Did anyone get fired for that embarrassment? Naah.

And then Sujit Choudhry, the Dean of the Berkeley Law School, was accused of sexually harassing a subordinate.  He stepped down from his deanship but retained his tenured professor's salary--more than a quarter of a million dollars a year.

Space doesn't permit a review of UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi's various scandals. She is apparently on paid leave as the University sorts out nepotism allegations. But she's still getting paid, God bless her.

Allegations Against UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks: A Nonstarter

And now Nicholas Dirks, Chancellor of UC's flagship Berkeley campus, is being investigated for allegedly misusing public funds. As the Los Angeles Times reported it, a whistleblower accused Chancellor Dirks of getting free services from a campus fitness trainer. In addition, Dirks's wife, a tenured history professor, took the trainer with her on a trip to India. There are also questions about a $700,000 fence constructed around Dirks's residence--installed to protect him from student protesters.

In my view, the allegations against Dirks are a tempest in a teapot. Getting free use of a campus fitness trainer is no big deal. The director of the UC Berkeley recreational center approved the arrangement, which the director compared to getting free tickets to a varsity football game.

The same trainer accompanied Dirks's wife on a trip to India, but apparently the Berkeley Alumni Association paid for this perk, so no public funds were involved.

As for spending 700 grand to build a fence around Chancellor Dirks's house, I say what the hell. If the project complied with University spending regulations--and it probably did--no wrongdoing occurred. I doubt any of the allegations against Chancellor Dirks are serious enough to get him fired.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks: University President as Potentate

On the other hand, Chancellor Dirks is very well paid. He makes a half million a year, gets free housing and a generous car allowance. Can't the guy pay the cost of a personal fitness trainer?

Likewise, why is someone picking up the tab for Janaki Bakhle, Dirks's wife, to take Dirks's personal trainer with her on a trip to India? After all, Bakhle is a humble history professor. Where does she get off traveling the globe with a personal trainer paid for by the alumni association?

And let's face it; $700,000 is a lot of money to put a security fence around Dirks's personal residence. Berkeley's campus police defended the expense as a money saver. According to the UC cops, having a fence around the chancellor's house saves the university $360,000 a year in security costs.

But that defense is laughable. Was UC Berkeley really spending more than a third of a million dollars a year to protect Dirks's house?

The allegations against Dirks are a window into the world of a mega university president. These people no longer serve primarily as academic leaders. In their new role, they are more like a viceroy overseeing a British colony.  They get paid extravagant salaries, which are often padded with outside income and special perks like life insurance, car allowances, and palatial housing. They travel the world in private jets, hobnobbing with the global elites.

Meanwhile, if recent news reports are to be believed, a large number of college students aren't getting enough to eat.  Students borrow more and more every year to attend college and then graduate into a job market that puts nearly half of new graduates into jobs that do not even require a college degree. No wonder a large percentage of them regret ever going to college.

But Chancellor Dirks and his tenured wife are doing fine, thank you very much. And if the students get restless and protest escalating college costs, Dirks knows he can rest secure behind his $700,000 security fence.



Image result for "nicholas dirks images
Nicholas Dirks: Potentate of UC Berkeley
References

Nanette Aimov. UC Berkely law dean Choudhry resigns amid harassment scandal. San Francisco Chronicle, March 20, 2016. Accessible at http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/UC-Berkeley-law-dean-resigns-amid-harassment-6882570.php

Jessica Dickler. College costs are out of control. CNBC, July 13, 2016. Accessible at http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/12/college-costs-are-out-of-control.html

Conor Friedersdorf. A costly suspension for UC Dav's embatled chancellor. Atlantic, April 28, 2016. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/a-100k-suspension-for-uc-davis-embattled-chancellor/480300/

Larry Gordon (2012, September 13). UC to pay settlement in Davis pepper spray caseLos Angeles Times (online edition). http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/13/local/la-me-uc-pepper-spray-20120914

Steve Gorman. University of California cop who pepper sprayed student protesters awarded $38,000. Reuters, October 23. Accessible at: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/23/21105239-university-of-california-cop-who-pepper-sprayed-student-protesters-awarded-38000

Diana Lambert and Alexei Koseff. UC Davis chancellor apologizes, will donate textbook stock to student scholarshipsSacramento Bee, March 4, 2016. Accessible at http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article64041327.html

Teresa Watanabe. UC Berkeley chancellor under investigation for alleged misuse of public funds, personal use of campus fitness trainer. Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2016. Accessible at http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ln-berkeley-chancellor-probe-20160712-snap-story.html



Monday, March 7, 2016

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi accepted compensation from a textbook publisher: She should be fired

Both hands in the cookie jar . . .

Linda Katehi, Chancellor of UC Davis, received $70,000 for serving on the corporate Board of DeVry Education Group, the owner of a for-profit college being scrutinized by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In addition, her DeVry position entitled to her to $100,000 in stock, according to the Sacramento Bee.  Not bad for part-time work.

Since then, the public has learned that Katehi received $420,000 in income and stock for serving on the board of John Wiley & Sons, a textbook publisher.  All of this is in addition to her Chancellor's salary of more than $400,000 a year.

What an outrage! And what is Chancellor Katehi's response to the uproar? She resigned from both her DeVry position and her Wiley position, and she promises to donate her Wiley stock to a student scholarship fund.

Katehi: "sincerely regret . . ."

And then of course Katehi released the standard mea culpa press release in which she said this:
I take my responsibilities as Chancellor of UC Davis, and the entire University of California, very seriously and sincerely regret having accepted service on boards that create appearances of conflict with my deep commitment to serve UC Davis and its students.
Note that she admits to accepting service on corporate boards--not that she accepted money.  And she expresses regret, which is far different from apologizing. And she acknowledges the appearance of a conflict--not an actual one. Yeah, I'd say a university president who takes four hundred grand from a textbook publisher has an appearance of conflict.

This lady needs to be fired. In fact, she should have been fired after the UC Davis pepper spray incident of 2011, when university police officers pepper sprayed a group of seated and nonthreatening student protesters. Katehi said she didn't know police were going to use pepper spray on the students, which is something of an excuse, I suppose.

But UC Davis police officers were sued  for firing pepperballs at student bystanders at an outdoor drinking bash that took place in 2004. One victim lost the use of an eye. The Ninth Circuit ultimately ruled that the police had used an unconstitutional level of force against the students.

So if there is anything this overcompensated clown should have gotten right while serving as UC Davis's chancellor it was control of the campus police. Yet an independent report found that UC Davis police were not authorized to use the specific type of pepper spray that they inflicted on students in the 2011 incident and were not trained to use it correctly.

Blah, blah, blah from UC President Napolitano

Incredibly, Katehi's venality is not exceptional. According to a fine article  written by Diana Lambert and Alexei Koseff for the Sacramento Bee, nine UC chancellors accepted $1.5 million in cash compensation from outside corporations during the  years 2012-2014--and that doesn't include stock options or deferred  compensation!

What does UC President Janet Napolitano have to say about Katehi's behavior? "I deeply value Linda's strong record in helping to make UC Davis a world-class center of scholarship and research, and continue to believe in  the value of her contributions to the University."  Blah, blah, blah.

What Napolitano is really saying is this: The University of California protects its insiders.

It is a pity that UC chancellors are not treated like UC students. If there were any justice in the world, all nine moonlighting UC chancellors would be put before a hand-picked squad of untrained UC Davis police officers and assaulted with pepper spray.

Image result for uc davis pepper spray image

References

Diana Lambert and Alexei Koseff. UC Davis chancellor apologizes, will donate textbook stock to student scholarships. Sacramento Bee, March 4, 2016. Accessible at http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article64041327.html

Nelson v. City of Davis, 685 F.3d 867 (9th Cir. 2012).  Accessible at http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2012/07/11/10-16256.pdf

Teresa Watanabe. UC Davis chancellor apologizes for controversial moonlighting activities. Los Angeles Tims, March 5, 2016. Accessible at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-davis-chancellor-20160304-story.html

Christopher Edley & C. F. Robinson 2012). Response to Protests on UC Campuses. University of California. http://campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu/documents/protest-report-091312.pdf
 Richard Fossey. Nelson v. City of Davis: Campus Police Officers Who Injure Nonthreatening Student with Pepper Spray May be Committing a Constitutional Offense. Teachers College Record Online, October 5, 2012. Accessible at: http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16894

Gordon, L. (2012, September 13).
UC to pay settlement in Davis pepper spray case. Los Angeles Times (online edition). http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/13/local/la-me-uc-pepper-spray-20120914

Steve Gorman. University of California cop who pepper sprayed student protesters awarded $38,000. Reuters, October 23. Accessible at: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/23/21105239-university-of-california-cop-who-pepper-sprayed-student-protesters-awarded-38000
Judy Lin. Linda Katehi, UC Davis Chancellor, Apologizes for Pepper Spray Incident. Huffington Post, November 22,2013.  Accessible at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/linda-katehi-uc-davis-cha_n_1107303.html

Jennifer Medina. Campus Task Forces Criticizes Pepper Srpaying of Protesters. New York Times, April 11, 2012. Accessible at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/us/task-force-criticizes-pepper-spraying-of-protesters-at-uc-davis.html?_r=0

Cruz Reynoso. UC Davis Taskforce Report, March 12, 2012.  Accessible athttp://ahed.assembly.ca.gov/sites/ahed.assembly.ca.gov/files/hearings/1.%20Reynoso%20Task%20Force%20Report.pdf

Smith, D. (2012, September 20). Yolo DA won’t file charges in UCD pepper-spraying. Sacramento Bee (online edition).  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/20/4836866/yolo-da-wont-file-charges-in-ucd.html#mi_rss=Our%20Region


Stripling, J. (2012, April 11). Scathing report on UC-Davis pepper-spray incident faults chancellor and police.Chronicle of Higher Education (online edition). http://chronicle.com/article/UC-Davis-Pepper-Spray-Report/131496/

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Linda Katehi, DeVry University and the UC Pepper Spray Incident: Chancellor Katehi should be fired

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who presided over UC Davis's scandalous pepper-spray incident, got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Yesterday, she announced she was resigning from the corporate board of DeVry Education Group, owner of DeVry University. DeVry is currently being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for making false claims about its job placement rates.

Katehi is making at least $400,000 as boss of UC Davis, more than the Governor of California. But apparently that wasn't enough for her.  According to a CBS report, DeVry paid Katehi $70,000 to be on its corporate board.

Why do suppose DeVry put Katehi on its board? Did it appreciate the great judgment she showed after  UC Davis police officers pepper-sprayed peaceful and nonthreatening students who were participating in an Occupy Wall Street demonstration?

Did DeVry admire the way Katehi handled the pepper-spray incident, denying she knew the police were going to use pepper spray and then allowing the university to file charges against the student victims?

Or perhaps DeVry appreciated Katehi's crisis management skills. After all, she hired a a PR flack in the wake of the pepper-spray incident at a salary of $260,000--more than a quarter of the amount UC Davis paid the pepper-spray victims to settle their lawsuit.

Or maybe DeVry was impressed by Katehi's transparency.  UC Davis refused to turn over the names of the police officers who were involved in the pepper-spray assault for more than two years. In fact, it did not release the names of the officers until it lost a court battle with the Sacramento Bee.

No, we all know why for-profit universities put high-profile figures like Chancellor Katehi on their governing boards. They do it to buy influence, credibility and political cover.

In my opinion, the University of California should fire Katehi for gross misjudgment. Everyone knows that America's for-profit colleges are ripping off vulnerable and unsophisticated students, that they charge too much, and that their student-loan default rates are shockingly high.  For Katehi, who bungled UC Davis's pepper-spay scandal and who is overpaid, to glom on to an extra 70,000 clams by serving on DeVry University's board is disgraceful.

Image result for linda katehi uc davis
Linda Katehi, Chancellor of UC Davis 

References

Brad Branan. UC Davis cuts PR post that drew criticism for its $260,000 salary. Sacramento Bee, September 26, 2015. Accessible at http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article36715044.html

Paul Collins. That's Rich.  The chancellor of UC Davis is a bona fide 1 percenter. Slate, March 5, 2012.  Accessible at: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/moneybox/2012/03/uc_davis_chancellor_linda_katehi_s_salary_makes_her_a_member_of_the_1_percent_.html http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/6021:forprofit-kaplan-university-pays-executives-a-quarter-billion-dollars-courtesy-of-students-and-taxpayers

Larry Gordon (2012, September 13). UC to pay settlement in Davis pepper spray case. Los Angeles Times (online edition). http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/13/local/la-me-uc-pepper-spray-20120914

Scott Jaschik. Davis Will Drop Charges Against, Pay Medical Bills of Pepper Spray Students. Inside Higher Ed, November 23, 2011. Available at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2011/11/23/davis-will-drop-charges-against-pay-medical-bills-pepper-spray-students

Sam Stanton. Bee wins legal battle for names of UC Davis officers in pepper spray incident. Sacramento Bee, August 21, 2014. Available at http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article2607394.html

Danny Weil. For-Profit Kaplan University Pays Executives a Quarter Billion Dollars, Courtesy of Students and Taxpayers. Truth-out.org, January 14, 2012. Accessible at http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/6021:forprofit-kaplan-university-pays-executives-a-quarter-billion-dollars-courtesy-of-students-and-taxpayers

Thursday, December 5, 2013

I miss Barney Fife: Rice University police repeatedly beat suspected bicycle thief and Rice won't turn over records

I miss Barney Fife
Last week, a Houston television station aired a video showing Rice University police officers beating  a suspected bicycle thief while he was lying on the ground begging them to stop.  According to the Houston Chronicle, officers hit the man13 times in 20 seconds.

Did the Rice cops use excessive force? I can't say. The police maintain the suspect refused to be handcuffed and that they used the appropriate procedure to subdue him.

As of yesterday, Rice University refused to release the entire video of the arrest or the mug shot of the suspect. Rice claims it is not subject to the Texas Public Information Act because it is a private university. 

In an editorial that appeared on December 4th, The Houston Chronicle criticized Rice University's secrecy about the beating incident. "Police in a democratic society must be open to investigation, even if they work at a private university," the Chronicle argued.

The Chronicle pointed out that Rice gets millions of dollars in state funding and its students are eligible for state financial aid. The newspaper called on the Texas legislature to close the loophole in the Texas Public Information Act so that the law applies to private universities.

John Whitmire, a state senator from Houston, is also upset by Rice University's secrecy.  Whitmire threatened to make it harder for Rice to get public money. "One, watch what I do to their budget," Senator Whitmire was quoted as saying. "And two, watch what I do to their police department."

I agree with the Houston Chronicle and Senator Whitmire. Rice University, which receives millions of dollars in state and federal money, should not be able to shield its activities from public view simply because it is a private university. Rice should be subject to the Texas Public Information Act, just as state agencies are.

This incident is reminiscent of the pepper spray incident that took place at UC Davis in 2011. University police officers pepper sprayed nonthreatening students who were sitting on a sidewalk during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration.  Linda Katehi, UC Davis president, apologized for the incident; and the university paid a million dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by the victims.

But UC Davis never released information about what it did with Lieutenant John Pike, the chief offender in the pepper spray incident.  Pike left the university under undisclosed circumstances.

 I wish to make two points about the incidents that took place at Rice and UC Davis. First, as I have said before, every university that participates in the federal student loan program should operate in complete transparency, whether it is public and private.  It is time for a federal open records law that applies to all colleges that receive federal student-loan money.

Second, the Rice incident and the UC Davis pepper-spray incident may be an indication that our university police departments are slowly evolving from service agencies dedicated to protecting and assisting students to paramilitary organizations.  Was it necessary, after all, for UC Davis police officers to attack peaceful students while wearing riot gear?

Personally, I miss the good old days when campus police officers behaved a little more like Barney Fife and a little less like Robo Cop. 



UC Pepper-Spray Incident
Photo credit: Wayne Tilcock, Davis Enterprise


Reference

Editorial. Secret police: Footage of Rice  University officers beating a suspect raises serious questions. Houston Chronicle, December 4, 2013, p. B6.

Brian Rogers. Lack of police transparency in Rice arrest angers lawmaker. Houston Chronicle, December 3, 2013. Accessible at: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Lack-of-police-transparency-in-Rice-arrest-angers-5029397.php

Tyler Kinkade. Lt. John Pike, UC Davis Pepper Spray Cop, No Longer Working at University. Huffington Post, August 10, 2013. Accessible at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/lt-john-pike-uc-davis-pepper-spray-campus-police_n_1727933.html

 

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Lack of Accountability in Higher Education: Revisiting the UC Davis Pepper-Spray Incident

People complain all the time about American higher education. They say it is too expensive and the quality is declining. Reports come out frequently that unfavorably compare the skill level of American workers to the skill levels of workers in other countries. Nevertheless, for the past 30 years, the cost of higher education in the U.S. has risen faster than the annual inflation rate.


I contend that a lot of higher education's troubles stem from lack of accountability.  Colleges and universities demand more and more every year, and yet we don't hold college and university leaders accountable for their actions. The UC Davis pepper spray incident supports my point.

You recall what happened. In November 2011, Lieutenant John Pike, a UC Davis police officer, pepper-sprayed non-threatening students who were sitting on a sidewalk as part of an Occupy Wall Street demonstration.  The incident went viral, and a You Tube video of the event was visited more than a million times.

The  University of California produced two lengthy reports to examine what happened, one at the campus level and one by the UC system.  Experts and lawyers were hired, and both reports concluded that UC Davis officers acted wrongly when they pepper sprayed students.  In fact, the officers had not be trained how to use the  particular form of pepper spray that was used in the attacks.

The student victims sued, and UC settled with them for about $1 million.  Lieutenant John Pike, the chief offender, was put on administrative leave and later left university employment under undisclosed terms.  The local district attorney determined there were insufficient grounds to prosecute him.

And now we learn that the University of California paid Lieutenant Pike $38,000 in settlement of his Worker Compensation claim.  Yes, Pike filed a claim for unspecified psychiatric and nervous system damages arising from the pepper spray incident that he himself initiated.  Lieutenant Pike should have been fired.  Instead he gets a check for $38,000.

Of course this is outrageous.  And it is also outrageous that UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi was not held accountable for this shameful incident.

UC Davis had already been sued for misusing pepper spray in a 2004 incident in which Timothy Nelson, a UC Davis student, lost sight in one eye after being hit by pepper spray projectiles fired by UC Davis police officers.  The Ninth Circuit ruled that reasonable law enforcement officers would have known in 2004 that it was constitutionally unreasonable to fire pepper spray projectiles at nonthreatening college students.

Apparently UC Davis learned nothing from the 2004 incident because in 2011 UC Davis police used pepper spray again on nonthreatening students--pepper spray UC Davis had not trained its officers to use.

No one was held accountable for this disgraceful event, although President Katehi did apologize. "I feel horrible for what happened Friday," Katehi told a group of students.  "If you think you don't want to be students of the university we had on Friday, I'm just telling you, I don't want to be the chancellor of the university we had on Friday."  Then she lawyered up and appointed a commission to study the event.

So if you want to know why American higher education is in trouble, just reflect on the UC Davis pepper spray incident.  A university president should be held accountable for incidents like the one that happened in November 2011.  Yet President Katehi is still in charge. 

And what is Chancellor Katehi's salary? She makes about $400,000 in base salary, twice as much as the Governor of California.

References

Christopher Edley & C. F. Robinson 2012). Response to Protests on UC Campuses. University of California. http://campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu/documents/protest-report-091312.pdf
 Richard Fossey. Nelson v. City of Davis: Campus Police Officers Who Injure Nonthreatening Student with Pepper Spray May be Committing a Constitutional Offense. Teachers College Record Online, October 5, 2012. Accessible at: http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16894

Gordon, L. (2012, September 13). UC to pay settlement in Davis pepper spray case. Los Angeles Times (online edition). http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/13/local/la-me-uc-pepper-spray-20120914

Steve Gorman. University of California cop who pepper sprayed student protesters awarded $38,000. Reuters, October 23. Accessible at: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/23/21105239-university-of-california-cop-who-pepper-sprayed-student-protesters-awarded-38000.

Judy Lin. Linda Katehi, UC Davis Chancellor, Apologizes for Pepper Spray Incident. Huffington Post, November 22,2013.  Accessible at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/linda-katehi-uc-davis-cha_n_1107303.html

Nelson v. City of Davis, 685 F.3d 867 (9th Cir. 2012).

Smith, D. (2012, September 20). Yolo DA won’t file charges in UCD pepper-spraying. Sacramento Bee (online edition).  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/20/4836866/yolo-da-wont-file-charges-in-ucd.html#mi_rss=Our%20Region

Stripling, J. (2012, April 11). Scathing report on UC-Davis pepper-spray incident faults chancellor and police.Chronicle of Higher Education (online edition). http://chronicle.com/article/UC-Davis-Pepper-Spray-Report/131496/