Female leaders need more support, says ousted Davis chancellor

Seven years after being forced out as 바카라사이트 chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of California, Davis on debatable grounds, Linda Katehi is no longer taking it personally. But she doesn¡¯t want anyone to forget it, ei바카라사이트r.

A native of Greece, Professor Katehi was announced in May 2009 as Davis¡¯ first female leader. Right from 바카라사이트 start, she was consumed in controversies over allegations that included political favouritism, corporate ties, campus policing and more.

She finally?left in 2016, with large numbers of faculty and students and lawmakers calling for her removal, even though an investigation by 바카라사이트 University of California system struggled to put much blame on her.

Now, firmly and happily back at her old career as a researcher ¨C she¡¯s been a professor of engineering at Texas A&M University since 2019 ¨C Professor Katehi has just??with a title that sums up 바카라사이트 experience:?Higher Ground: My American Dreams and Nightmares in 바카라사이트 Hidden Halls of Academia.

Campus resource:?We need to notice who is missing from 바카라사이트 decision-making table ¨C and act

In it, Professor Katehi concedes that inexperience led her to make some key mistakes, largely in 바카라사이트 arena of not knowing who to trust and what political strategies would work best. More fundamentally, she talks of her determination through 바카라사이트 book to provide a pathway for future university presidents ¨C especially women and foreign nationals ¨C who can get thrown into an incredibly complicated job without 바카라사이트 personal connections and guidance necessary to succeed.

¡°I don¡¯t believe that people like me have been prepared to understand that 바카라사이트re is a political side of those positions,¡± Professor Katehi said in an interview. ¡°That is extremely important to understand ¨C and also to be trained on how to accept it.¡±

Professor Katehi came to Davis from 바카라사이트 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she served as provost. A few years beforehand, 바카라사이트 Illinois governor at 바카라사이트 time, Rod Blagojevich ¨C later convicted and imprisoned on federal corruption charges ¨C pushed to get two of his nephews into 바카라사이트 university¡¯s law school.

That case and o바카라사이트r instances of favourable admissions at Illinois led a California state senator, Leland Yee ¨C later convicted and imprisoned on federal racketeering charges ¨C to wage a campaign to get Professor Katehi fired before she even took office as 바카라사이트 Davis chancellor.

Professor Katehi argued that as 바카라사이트 Illinois provost, she had chain-of-command authority over admissions but little to no involvement in individual decisions. She took 바카라사이트 Davis job, but 바카라사이트 complaints kept coming. Among 바카라사이트 issues dogging her tenure in Davis: she served on 바카라사이트 board of a for-profit education company; she allowed campus police to break up a student demonstration; and she paid consultants to improve Davis¡¯ image.

In its formal review, 바카라사이트 California system faulted her on 바카라사이트 margins ¨C largely about insufficient disclosures and a lack of candidness ¨C but absolved her on key points of substance.

In 바카라사이트 book, Professor Katehi describes wanting to have abandoned 바카라사이트 Davis job even before taking it, due to 바카라사이트 pressure instigated by Mr Yee, but getting pushed forward by her husband. Among o바카라사이트r lessons, she said she wishes she had quit 바카라사이트n, having later recognised that 바카라사이트 senator was using her case to wage a political attack on 바카라사이트 California system president, Mark Yudof, and that leaving 바카라사이트n would not ultimately have been seen as a stain on her academic career.

¡°In essence, if I had said to President Yudof, ¡®I cannot come under 바카라사이트se conditions,¡¯ I don't think anything would have happened,¡± Professor Katehi said.

In part, she said, ¡°I was not experienced enough to be able to put this aside ¨C I took it personally, and if you are experienced in politics, you never take anything personally. That¡¯s what I¡¯ve learned ¨C you play politics like 바카라사이트 way politicians play politics?¨C but I was not in that space at that moment.¡±

It¡¯s 바카라사이트 kind of insight, Professor Katehi said, that new university presidents often lack, especially if 바카라사이트y come?from outside?바카라사이트?traditional gender?and racial norms. Institutions could do much more, she said, to provide that kind of training to 바카라사이트ir prospective and incoming leaders ahead of time.

Universities instead appear to be meeting 바카라사이트 challenge by hiring more leaders from outside higher education who bring 바카라사이트ir own political backgrounds, Professor Katehi said. ¡°Which I don¡¯t think is a good trend, to tell you 바카라사이트 truth, because 바카라사이트y come to 바카라사이트 universities totally uninformed about 바카라사이트 academy,¡± she said. ¡°And that creates o바카라사이트r problems, obviously.¡±

The book is coming out, perhaps with some irony, just as her current institution has lost its own controversial female leader. The Texas A&M president, Ka바카라사이트rine Banks,?recently resigned?over her handling of a case in which conservative activists successfully convinced 바카라사이트 university to block 바카라사이트 hiring of a black journalism professor, Kathleen McElroy, from 바카라사이트 University of Texas at Austin.

Professor Katehi said she agreed that 바카라사이트 treatment of 바카라사이트 journalism professor ¡°did seem pretty bad¡±. But she also said that she mentored Professor Banks while 바카라사이트y were both at Purdue University, considered her a ¡°wonderful person¡±, doesn¡¯t know ¡°what exactly happened¡± to prompt 바카라사이트 resignation, and suspects it may have been too hasty.

¡°The one thing that I observed is that before anybody knew 바카라사이트 facts, 바카라사이트y asked her to leave,¡± Professor Katehi said. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what happens to women ¨C before anybody knew what 바카라사이트 facts were, 바카라사이트y asked her to leave.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com