SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The embattled chancellor of the University of California, Davis, resigned Tuesday following an investigation launched amid questions about her hiring of image consultants to counter bad publicity from the pepper-spraying of demonstrators by campus police in 2011.
Linda Katehi offered her resignation Tuesday, saying that she would return to teaching and emphasizing that the investigation had cleared her of accusations involving nepotism, travel expenses and retaliatory practices.
The report, however, did find that Katehi minimized her knowledge of and role in the university’s hiring of social media consultants to minimize negative information online about the school and herself.
Katehi’s resignation ends months of turmoil at the Northern California public university known for its agricultural and veterinary studies. Students and lawmakers who had called for her resignation said the campus can now move forward.
“It did the UC Davis community no good for her to continue to hold onto her office at the expense of our community,” said Alex T. Lee, president of the Associated Students of the University of California, Davis in an email to The Associated Press. “I think it frustrated students that she held on, especially with paid leave.”