‘We don’t sit around saying ‘woe is me.” Napolitano prepares to fill sudden chancellor vacancies at UC Berkeley, UC Davis

By Teresa Watanabe

For months, University of California President Janet Napolitano had been hearing about problems with two of her chancellors, at UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

What would Napolitano do? Rumors raged, but few expected she would support two resignations in quick succession — and leave the campuses without permanent leaders just days before the new school year starts.

Then UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi stepped down last week, UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Napolitano called the sudden vacancies an opportunity for a new start.

“One of the things I’m here to do is identify issues and address them,” Napolitano said in an interview. “We don’t sit around saying ‘woe is me.’ This is an exciting opportunity to bring in fresh leadership to help two of the nation’s best research universities reach even greater heights.”

At Davis, Katehi got herself embroiled in controversies over questionable moonlighting activities, efforts to cleanse her online image and allegations of nepotism. At Berkeley, Dirks was facing a growing faculty revolt over perceived weak leadership in handling a critical budget deficit and sexual misconduct cases, frequent absences from campus and a probe into alleged misuse of funds.

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[Source]: LA Times