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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Davis Affair Won't Be Resolved This Way

Not the best place to reach a settlement
We have previously posted about the UC-Davis affair and the "suspension" of Chancellor Katehi. Most recently, we noted the Sacramento Bee's report on Katehi's efforts to deal with the internet reputation of the university and then a controversy over the return of her university-owned smartphone. 

Michael Meranze forwarded to yours truly a link to a local Davis news source which has been publishing media releases from the Katehi legal team. The team has complained that the Bee is biased and/or dumb:

Lee Houskeeper, an advisor {to Katehi}, sent out a response on Friday, arguing, “For months it has appeared that the Sacramento Bee has become a partisan in the matter of UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. The paper’s often one-sided and breathless reporting of issues with zero real news in them is something we hear about from a lot of people.” He argued, “If you have any remaining doubts about the Bee’s squishy objectivity, look at its reporting today and yesterday on how Chancellor Katehi led the creation of a Digital Acceleration Lab at UC Davis.” Pressing on, he argues that the Bee has failed “to grasp the realities of social media and to harness its power to connect with new audiences,” to which he attributes the Bee’s “plummeting circulation.”
[Suggestion to Mr. Houskeeper: If you would like more sympathetic reporting, you might not want to jab at the Bee with nasty remarks about "plummeting circulation" and such. Suggestion to Chancellor Katehi: Consider getting a new "advisor."]
We continue to note that although at present this matter is being tried in the court of public opinion - not the best place - what is needed is some quiet mediation. The UC prez does not need to "prove" that she made the correct decision in suspending (removing) Chancellor Katehi. Katehi needs a face-saving way out. The UC-Davis campus needs to be done with this matter. With a little ego-retraction on both sides, a settlement could be reached. 
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*http://www.davisvanguard.org/2016/06/uc-president-tells-katehi-no-right-attorney-client-privilege/#comment-322667 and http://www.davisvanguard.org/2016/06/katehis-team-charges-bias-sacramento-bees-reporting-chancellor/

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