The Sacramento Bee offers an editorial today that argues, “UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi is seeking to rebuild public confidence. She seems genuinely contrite, but it’s a big ask.”
The editorial board writes that the chancellor visited their board on Thursday with a message of “trust me.” “I will do everything in my power to minimize mistakes,” she said.
They write, “Katehi said she is creating an internal team to vet her board commitments and other community involvement, and a ‘transparency board’ to improve her communications. She also promised to engage the campus more openly on issues such as the budget, and to talk more to the community about the future of the university.”
“We don’t blame Katehi for wanting to fix this. She has big plans for the university,” they write. “In her six and a half year tenure as chancellor, UC Davis has become an academic contender and a force in the region.”
For the last few months we have been stuck in a binary world where one side wants the chancellor to resign – in part for her mistakes, in part probably for things that are likely outside of her control, but about which she didn’t seem to take enough heed.
On the other hand are those who point to her achievements – and there are many – and argue we should overlook her shortcomings.
Lost in these two perspectives is a real acknowledgement of her strengths by those who are critical of the chancellor and, at the same time, the lack of acknowledgment of the severity of her missteps by those who seek to defend her.
The Bee editorial board parses this disconnect well, noting that Forbes Magazine called UC Davis “the nation’s best school for promoting women in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.” They laud her vision, but state that “it could all come to naught if her missteps accumulate to the point that the public no longer trusts her. And Katehi – who prides herself on being a risk-taker – has a terrible Achilles heel with risky decisions that have come back to bite her.”
The idea that someone making over $400,000 would not recognize how bad the optics were of joining the DeVry University board FOR PAY is mindboggling. UC Davis’ explanation and defense of the communications contract strains credibility.
As Sac Bee columnist Marcos Breton put it recently in his column, “For all her accolades, corporate support, academic credentials and fundraising prowess, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi has faced more than one crisis due to consistent failures to communicate.”
Mr. Breton nailed it by pointing out, “She can fire up Sacramento business leaders with the goal of making UC Davis as valuable to Sacramento’s economy as Stanford and UC Berkeley are to Silicon Valley.” But, at the same time that “Katehi’s job requires humility and common sense over intellectual prowess, her world spins out of control.”
Moreover, she was swimming in quicksand: “The more UC Davis has spent on its communications budget – from $2.93 million in 2009 to $5.47 million in 2015 – the more muddled its message has become.”
Mr. Breton continues, “Katehi has fostered a diverse campus where women have gained acceptance in ways other campuses have not. She’s pushed UC Davis to be one of the finest universities in the U.S. She should be soaring, and yet?”
Marcos Breton’s column really cuts through the spin here. As he points out, she survived “because of her upside as a rainmaker with broad community and institutional support,” and yet she never could seem to get past the pepper spray incident even though pretty much everyone else had.
He writes, “The irony is that UC Davis has good reasons to manage its online image considering how much fundraising Katehi’s administration does every year. But UC Davis image makers seem incapable of communicating justifiable strategies in anything beyond robotic-sounding statements.”
At the end of the day, I have been criticized for focusing on the negative with regards to the chancellor. But really, how could the Vanguard not point out the tangled mess left here, starting with some indiscretions but ending with the inability to manage a basic message – despite spending more than five million a year on messaging?
We supported the student protesters because we believed they were right – not in the message of “Fire Katehi” or the demand that she resign – but in their frustration at the system that is focused on the money-making potential of the university while at the same time making the cost of education out of the reach of many middle income families who have to mortgage their future.
That frustration is real and it can be ignored only at their own peril. Those who point out that the protesters at Mrak who left last week after more than a month represent a small percentage of students forget that their concerns were amplified by students, faculty, staff, labor, and student government leaders.
And yet, at the end of the day, I like many still believe not only in the potential for greatness at UC Davis but that Chancellor Katehi’s vision is a strong one.
As Mr. Breton points out, “UC Davis has great stories to tell. QS World University Rankings lists UC Davis as the top veterinary and agricultural schools in the world. UC Davis’ endowment reached $1 billion in 2015. UC Davis has the most California graduates of any UC school since 2010. In the previous academic year, nearly half of recent faculty hiring has been women, and nearly 25 percent are people of color. And UC Davis has the most women undergraduate science and technology majors in the UC system.”
In addition, “Sacramento business leaders see Katehi as someone who ‘gets it,’ and who wants campus innovation to jump over the Yolo Causeway and invigorate Sacramento’s government-dependent economy.”
While Mr. Breton focuses heavily on Sacramento, I happen to believe that Ms. Katehi can be the answer for the economic development needs in Davis as well.
As he puts it, “All of this is an amazing story to tell, but what we have at UC Davis is a failure to communicate.”
For us, then, it appears that Chancellor Katehi will get one more chance to make things right. We can only hope that she and the university truly learn from their mistakes and start to do things better.
If they don’t, the media has no other choice than to expose this stuff for what it is.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I have given a lot of thought to what it would take for Chancellor Katehi to restore my confidence in her. It is really quite simple, but I do not believe from her past actions that she is capable of it.
It would require from her a clear statement that she understands that a major public university is different from a major private company. It would require both words and actions that clearly demonstrate that she is capable of discerning the difference between the best interests of the students of California whom she is charged with educating and the interests of the already affluent companies with whom she hopes to align and/or the children of already affluent individuals from out of state. She would need to understand that more and bigger do not always equate to better for the students, professors, lecturers and workers who are the heart of the university. I am not against growth. I favor growth that enhances an environment that is beneficial for all. I do not favor growth that is harmful to any and the price that is being payed for Chancellor Katehi’s private model vision is not consistent with a public institution. I could be persuaded to support her, but firmly believe that she is not capable of this transition.
So have I . . . she would have to step down.
You can’t let them say they are sorry, they just hide the next effort better. You have to force them out. Make it public enough and they will pretend to “do the right thing”, if you appeal to their better nature, you will come up empty.
A faculty member stealing from the Ford Foundation and UCD was caught and all I got from the Department Head (faculty) and the Management people was “we will take care of it”. When I contacted Internal Audit, they had no clue. Never reported as policy dictates.
A few years later, she is “faculty member of the year” at UCD. Who says Crime doesn’t pay?
Tia
Unfortunately “public university” has long lost its meaning. The state provides a mere 10% -15% of the total budget of UCD. How on earth can you expect it to fulfill all the “missions”, “duties”, and “responsibilities” of a supposedly public university? Katehi has never actually served in a private university and she understands this better than anyone else. It is perhaps your wishful thinking that UCD can be kept the way it was 30 or 40 years ago.
The Vanguard is clearly conflicted here between its support for protests, civil action and social justice and its acknowledgement that Katehi is actually best situated to push the kind of economic development that it needs. The problem of course is that Katehi can lead, but Davis isn’t going to follow.
The adage “lead, follow or get the hell out of the way” rings true for me. In Davis, it is primarily just getting the hell in the way.
Your comment summarizes it quite well.
Your comment (TW) borders on ridiculous.
– First, she has admitted more for California students than any other Chancellor (to the point, the humanities and social science faculty feel completely overwhelmed).
– Second, UCD spends less than other schools at the same level for strategic communications – check out the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s article on college marketing.
– Third, diverse faculty and student bodies are the hallmark of a public institution – she is clearly tops in the UC on this measure.
I could go on. UC Davis is not a state school – the legislators and the Gov. have abandoned the principles of a state school – but, UCD should be a public school. No one really knows what that means practically – you know, like when the bills have to get paid. The fact that you’ve heard NOT one word from nearly 86% of the faculty and 90% of the students means she is acceptable as a leader.
That she missed a $175k contract when she runs a 4.1 billion dollar enterprise makes her unqualified in your mind (TW) to run the university makes it clear that you consider this a personal vendetta. The Bee’s op-ed is a clear walk back – after trashing UCD’s reputation.
This is the crux of the matter. From Oakland down to Chancellor Katehi, they all want to be UCLA. They do not want public school students in the mix,. they want money from moneyed people who send their kids to UCD. Parents are already offing money as “donations” if their kid gets accepted.
Because the internal memos have disclosed this vaguely, and specifically in meetings, I know why there are so many foreign students. And because of this, they are corrupting the system on the cheap. Because building an institution would take Billions of their own money, they are taking a formerly Land Grant University and manipulate the State coffers and Politicians to buy them things they cannot justify financially.
Even Janet Napolitano may be a part of this thinking, since she has not been in the system that long, and is a person who rules from Oakland, trying to juggle the balls.
And by the way, I worked in Development when they were doing that “billion dollar thing”. It tried to count the Billion every way to hell and back, including going back 10 or 15 years to get to the magic number. Four years before the end of the trail, they claimed they were almost there, only $300 million more to go. I personally went through departments’ databases and obscure recordkeeping because department were trying to hide money without paying the “administrative percentage” that sustains them.
Ch Katehi is trying to make money like she feels she deserves, since she sees other Chancellors making Millions in salary.
Even those Chancellor critics admit that she had great achievements in her relatively short tenure. To be the only campus with two no. 1 schools in the world is not to a small feat. To reach, $1 Billion endowment, over $700 million in research funding, so that UC Davis is finally starting to be recognized as a serious player, is not a small feat.
Isn’t this what a good Chancellor does?
On the other hand, what I hear from critics can be summarized as: “yes, but I do not like her!”, followed by a litany of complaints, none of them would withstand scrutiny in the court of law. Some her critics are purely and hysterically emotional, thus, I wonder if they are motivated only by their dislike of her (on whatever grounds, including not liking her accent or the fact that she is a successful woman).
I do not like how she acts in public. I find this daily apologizing to be pathetic; I could not even watch this video to the end as it turned my stomach. But, did she make UC Davis an university that is finally getting some recognition for what university should be recognized: research, achievements, results, reputation and recognition? Yes, she did – far better place than I remember it, and I would like to see her continue on this course, regardless of whether I like her or dislike her personally.
Even one of the student protesters stated that 55% of them do not pay any tuition, thanks to the large endowment grants she brought to UC Davis. If this is true (I cannot confirm), those students should be “kissing her feet” and begging her to stay instead of protesting. She did a good job for them. (I am yet to hear a good rational argument from those students for her removal and for their protest.)
What would I recommend to Chancellor Katehi as next immediate steps:
(a) Continue cleaning up incompetent administrators: Deans, Department Chairs, people being in various committees.
(b) Create committees and process to resolve any faculty, staff, student grievances in an expedient fashion so that:
a. Any errors and wrongdoings committed by the university administration are acknowledged, rectified and wronged parties compensated, in a very short time.
b. Do not wait for the university to be sued, and then go on crushing those by the army of attorneys at the UC disposal. (faculty and staff knows they cannot win against too powerful attorneys paid by our tax money, but precisely because of that, UC Davis has created an army of enemies that are getting back at UC. Do not underestimate the power of the enemies you are creating, and the ways they will get back at you.)
c. Talk to those that have legitimate grievances, do not fight them.
(c) Tell Academic Senate to get serious. Their job is to stand up for faculty – not cozy up with the administration. They are useless to faculty.
(d) Restore the confidence in the administration but making it just – serving the faculty, not the other way around.
(e) Have monthly open forum meetings with faculty, staff and students where they can air their grievances against UC openly and without fear of repercussion. Listen.
I believe those steps, combined with your achievements, would make you a very popular Chancellor. The choice is yiours.
VG
“Isn’t this what a good Chancellor does?”
“did she make UC Davis an university that is finally getting some recognition for what university should be recognized: research, achievements, results, reputation and recognition? “
I do not agree with this line of reasoning. While it is true that UCD has come a long way in terms of leadership and reputation from when I was a student here from 1979-1983, it has been on this trajectory of improvement for a long, long time. When I arrived in 1979, long before the time of Katehi, we had in my entering class the most women and most diverse medical school class in the country. I believe that it was the combined efforts of many, many individuals in many fields that has made UCD what it is today, not solely or even primarily the actions of the current Chancellor. I believe that Chancellor Katehi has been more than willing to accept praise as though she were responsible for the improvements but has actually often been the cause of a decrease in the respect for the university. If this is not true, why does she repeatedly state that she has been responsible for what she calls “missteps”.
Great achievement and I think, she is a Republican
Katehi’s expertise is in circuit design and her research focuses on antennas.[11][12][15] She currently holds 19 patents.[15][16][17] Through her academic roles she has been a mentor to over 70 postdoctoral fellows.[17]
In addition to her university roles, Katehi was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Committee on the National Medal of Science.[12]She chaired the 12-member committee, along with the Secretary of Commerce’s committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, until 2010.[15][18] She was appointed to the FBI’s National Security Higher Education Advisory Board in 2010.[19] Katehi is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[15][20] and in 2011, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[15][20] She is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering where she chaired the committee on K-12 engineering education for two years.[12][17][20]
For her academic work, she has received awards including the AHC Aristeio Award in Academics in 2011[12] and a Gabby Award for her achievements in education and academia, also in 2011.[21]
In 2014, she received an honorary degree from the American College of Greece as part of their annual commencement ceremony.[22]
On October 4, 2015 The National Academy of Engineering presented Linda Katehi with its Simon Ramo Founders Award recognizing her “extraordinary impact on the engineering profession” and “leadership in engineering research and education.”[23]
“I think, she is a Republican”
No evidence to support that. Her name doesn’t show up on the voter roles leading me to wonder if she’s even a registered voter. Her husband is registered NPP = No Party Preference.
I am sorry , Katehi is not a Republican .
I forgot that in February 2011, Katehi, together with Rahim Reed, implemented an unconstitutional (under both the Federal and California State Constitutions) policy incorporated into the “UC Davis Principles of Community.” This policy labeled “CHRISTIANS AS A OPPRESSORS.” After the protest of the Alliance Defense Fund—a Christian legal group the definition of Christian as oppressors was removed from the “Manifesto” entitled “UC Davis Principle of Community.” However, Chancellor Katehi is still in power and Rahim Read still maintains the unconstitutional UC Davis Manifesto for $173, 000.00 per year , spreading hate and intolerance in the UC Davis University. Labeling Christians as oppressors was nothing else but Linda Katehi’s and Rahim Read’s ideological invitation for religious cleansing.
Thank you very much for pointing to the Executive Assistant Vice-Chancellor Dr. Rahim Reed, his work and legacy. “He has more than 20 years of experience in administration, student affairs and affirmative action policy development at four major universities with responsibilities. …..His primary responsibility .. is to help the University chart a course that will ensure attention to those components of campus’ social environment that affect community, campus climate, diversity and inclusiveness.” (taken from UC Davis web page)
Good job:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8YXERBpJ2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC-dpfsSAaE
VG
Rahim Reed is highly skilled ideologist . Katehi’s ideology and her faith is unknown . I am wondering if the neo-nazis flier’s which surfaced during the students protests against Katehi were coincidental or were sent as moral support for Chancellor Katehi. Maybe she being viewed as these folks as the “White is Right “Chancellor .
In my January 2015 letter to UC General Counsel Charles Robinson I elaborated a little about Chancellor Katehi’s ideological background because she in November 2011 (prior the pepper spray attack) has ordered the confidential report on me.
I wrote in my letter :
UC DAVIS GREEK BORN CHANCELLOR LINDA KATEHI
Linda Katehi became the 6th Chancellor of the University of California, Davis in 2009, succeeding Larry Vanderhoef.
In April 2011, Linda Katehi participated, in a tell-all Interview for the Greek—USA Reporter and was asked about her political activities in Greece during the time Greece was ruled by a Greek Fascist Military Regime.
It appears, from the above mentioned interview, that the UC Davis Chancellor was more likely than not in the same club of supporters for the Greek fascist military regime in 1973, with Nikolaos Michaloliakos who is today the Greek leader of the Neo-Fascist Party Golden Dawn, with seats in the Greek Parliament. The party is nostalgic for Nazism: its logo resembles a swastika, some party officials reportedly deny that the Holocaust occurred and a video shows party leader Nikos Michaloliakos giving a Nazi salute in the Athens City council.
Perhaps Linda Katehi is connected to Georgios Karatzaferis, a well-known Greek politician and journalist in Europe and former member of European Parliament. Georgios Karatzaferis is a leader of the Popular Orthodox Rally or People’s Orthodox Alarm, abbreviated as LAOS. On different controversial remarks, Georgios Karatzaferis has publicly questioned why Jews did not “come to work on 9/11,” suggesting that they were warned to leave the World Trade Center prior to the attack. He challenged the Israeli ambassador in Greece to come and debate on “the Holocaust, the Auschwitz and Dachau myth” and in 2001 he stated that “the Jews have no legitimacy to speak in Greece and provoke the political world. Their impudence is crass.”
The logos for both parties are interesting. LAOS’s logos are closely akin to the KKK’s logo and the Golden Dawn Party Logo is similar to the swastika.
I have no other explanation for Katehi’s chemical attack on peacefully protesting students in November 2011, but it is important to note her neo–fascist hidden from everybody ideology and her hidden affiliation with neo-fascist parties in her native country Greece. Historically, ideologies like fascism and communism are deeply rooted in Greece.
In conclusion of my letter I wrote : “The Greek version of Hava –Nagila is my favorite version, and I dedicate it to UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.”
Rahim Reed role is to bring diversity and under represented people to the faculty of UC Davis. Once they bring them in and take credit those faculty get this treatment:
https://davisvanguard.org/2011/04/ucd-professor-ordered-to-pay-30k-for-violating-universitys-first-amendment-rights/
http://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/branner/
Branner, Richard (Professor) UCD Discrimination (Race, Age); Retaliation and Harassment in Violation of FEHA; Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress and Breach of Contract Yolo County Superior Court (source: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/sept08/f11.pdf)
Of course, a lone faculty member has not chance against UC Davis Legal war chest (just check out how many of them are there), to which all of us taxpayers are contributing. So we are all accomplices in injustice, discrimination and whatever other act UC Davis feels like committing.
Truly shocking! I am speechless……
Honestly, I do not know of that and I do not know her ever expressing such points of view. However this is superficial and from the distant past. But, I will check and have your allegations confirmed or denied. Personally, my opinion is that she has no ideology, less her own interest and her own pocket – like all of them.
In defense of, what appears to be, my “support” for Katehi – least, I would not like to see her replaced for whatever imperfections she has. This is because I have seen a bad Chancellor (Larry Vanderhoef) and his cronies in the Mrak Hall, running UC Davis the North Korea style. Thus, I fear the worse. (perhaps “worse” has already arrived and is due to be replaced by “even worse”, as so it goes)
To summarize, I think Mrak Hall is a cesspool of “moral filth”, and this is not going to change. Students can protest as long as they want, succeeding in replacing one or two administrators, with the “worse” from the long queue of candidates eager to do anything for their personal advancement.
Regarding your political commentaries, I must admit that I am coming from the “old world”, where people, at least, had certain beliefs, certain principles, or ideology, mostly hoping to see a better and more just world. Today, I think that the fascists and so called “socialists” are all pursuing the same agenda. To name some of those “progressive socialists”: Javier Solana, Francois Hollande, the guys that sold Greece, even Tony Blair (suppose came from the labor movement), are on the same page with fascists that you named. There is one difference though: those on the right will tell you clearly where they stand (like it or not), those on the left will tell you wonderful stories of equality, justice, social concerns, and deliver every action item from the right-wing agenda, when they grab the power. This is why I have been very suspicious of the “progressive/imperial socialist” Bernie Sanders. All the anti-labor policies and free-trade agendas that R. Regan did not even dare to put on the table, were delivered by evil Clinton. In retrospective they made Nixon look like a good guy.
To get back to Davis… I do not think that this “student protest” has any platform, any ideology or any goals to be achieved. If FOX is to send a reporter to ask them “what is their protest about?”, they will get “umms and humms..” so that O’Reily and Hannity would have a ball. This is all a staged “political correctness orgy” that goes on and for which UC Davis is the best. Some of them think that, having “a protest” on their resume, it is good for their portfolio. Friend has told me how one of those “College Preparation Academy” took his children to a protest, took pictures of them protesting, in order to enhance their application folder under the item “social activism”. Many of them act as “spoiled brats”, the reason their protest has not resonated much with the working community. One of the Sac Bee commentators called them “wussies”. (our “Six pack Joe”, may not have a clean language, but their brains are clear). It is all part of “campus happenings”, and having “fun in school”.
Why did I call students “cowards”? Protest is a socially disruptive act. Protesters are not supposed to be served pizza in the heated and comfortable offices. Neither can they expect to be handled gently by police, or their “human rights” respected. To apply for a permit to protest, and conduct a protest while under police protection is an oxymoron. But this is what our indoctrinated students believe. They are pampered (UC Davis is good at that) to believe this is how the world is.
I have seen a different world, and the world that is real, not a “virtual reality” which is what Davis is. I was a student protesting in 60s. There was blood, broken heads, people that died, etc. (no need to describe). But we were not sitting to be pepper sprayed, while our friends are filming us with iPhone cameras. We were throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, and there was equal amount of blood and broken heads on the police side. There were no complains from either side afterwards and none of us got $30K compensation. Some of us had to flee the country. I.e. student protest is not a joke, not a staged “political correctness” event, and you do not go there to have your head broken, unless you know very well, why are you doing it and are ready to pay the price, which can even ultimately be your life. Wussies! (Sac Bee commentator summed it in one word)
This is why UC Davis is a farcical joke: their students, they Chancellor, cowardly professors and their corrupt administration. To be at UC Davis is a stigma of shame. I am afraid nothing will change.
VG
Well now, I am speechless ! Except not quite. To think that the only valid “protest” is one in which one “gets bashed in the head”is to me quite a statement. Speaking out for something that you believe in, even if you happen to be young, naive and perhaps not fully informed, does not make one a coward. Having pizza served also does not make one a coward. That is the action and responsibility of the administration, not the fault of the students who were the recipients. For many of these students this is likely a first protests and as such a formative exercise. A protest under these circumstances is not more noble if someone comes and pepper sprays them or hits or beats them. Those actions are reflections on the perpetrators not a moral judgment of those who are injured or served pizza as the case may be.
“This is why UC Davis is a farcical joke: their students, they Chancellor, cowardly professors and their corrupt administration. To be at UC Davis is a stigma of shame. I am afraid nothing will change.”
And I believe that change is constant and is always incremental. You call UCD a “farcical joke” and yet as far back as 1979, this campus was a leader in the acceptance of women and a diverse student population. Over the years we have become a top university in many fields….hardly an academic “joke”. I think it is important to evaluate each aspect of the university on its own merits.
I also think that it is important to apportion both credit and responsibility appropriately. What I see happening currently is a “you are either for her, or against her mentality” with regard to the Chancellor. I have no “personal vendetta ” against her as one poster suggested. But, I do not believe that she should accept credit for her accomplishments in building on the strength of UCD as a campus that welcomes diversity with out being willing to accept full responsibility for her errors ( handling of pepper spray incident, board participation and wealth accumulation decisions, attempted cover up of her reputation by use of a PR firm, nepotism ( husband’s placement) while hiding behind the arguments that others have been or are more corrupt. Even in a thoroughly corrupt system, there is nothing to stop someone at the top from refusing to accept ill gotten gains just because “everyone else does it”.
Almost every position filled, even the Young professors, have this clause in their contract, including low interest loans only available to them. Older ones have this carrot to get the spouse to sign on. They will even buy a property and then “loan” the money to the new hire.
Just like their Political counterparts? (last names too numerous to count)
Tia – the real hero of this website is David Greenwald. I really respect and admire this guy. I am sure he is a “thorn in the eye” of UC Davis and they must be plotting various acts against him. They are able to intimidate and silence “Davis Emptyprise”, – not him. In some other country they would do away with him by hiring an assassin. We are not there yet, but how long would it take? They can subject him to other evil acts without going outside of the law, and I wonder when will that happen. Thank you David for giving us a voice! You are a stand up guy! See what happens to those that stand up: https://davisvanguard.org/2011/04/ucd-professor-ordered-to-pay-30k-for-violating-universitys-first-amendment-rights/ any comments on this Tia?
I am nether admirer, nor enemy of the Chancellor. I am sure you can infer this from all of my writings. We are just voicing our opinions, as different as they are, thanks to David Greenwald, for giving us this opportunity. Perhaps some conclusions may come out of all of this. It takes years to create something and very short time to destroy it. I grant you that she, as everyone else, is taking credit where credit is not due – so common in academia. In business and politics, decisions are based on the best interest, not emotions. With 90% of the faculty not involved, and similar percentage of student silent, you can not make a justifiable decision on her removal.
Can you imagine what her replacement may look like? This is the most scary thought I have about this situation. If you think they will bring someone who is honest and decent, cares for the university, academic standards and student, you may be delusional (I do not mean to insult you, I respect your good wishes and honest desires, but this is not how “mafia” operates). Based on the past practices, this is highly unlikely outcome.
As far as our students are concerned they are not going too get much sympathy from a guy who is working on the roof in 120 degrees heath, or getting up at 3 am to beat the traffic, coming back in the night, barely making for the gas spent, worrying how to bring food for his children. Or the guy who get injured on the job and get fired as a result. This is how “the common folk'” lives. They have no understanding for pampered kids enjoying all the comfort of the campus life, paid for by their parents. (55% getting free tuition, paid by someone else, according to one of the protesters). Neither do I.
To paraphrase Newt Gingrich: “take a shower and go get the job!’
Some of the comments (from two contributors to this piece) suggest to me that the Vanguard moderator is on vacation. Otherwise, have the standards for civil discourse here changed?