The University of California has released the findings of an investigation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.
The report finds Katehi free of wrong-doing with two notable exceptions.
The report by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP says "Chancellor Katebi minimized her role in certain social media and strategic communications contracts in her discussions with President Napolitano and the media."
The investigation found Katehi initiated the contract with Nevins & Associates when she enlisted the help of a recruiter to find a company to repair damage to Katehi's and the school's reputations as a result of the 2011 pepper spray incident.
The report also says she approved replacing Nevins with another company, Purple Strategies, and then directed her Chief of Staff to find another company, when that contract expired. That company turned out to be IDMLOCO.
The investigators found Katehi did not negotiate contracts or participate in the day-to-day work of the consultants, but she met with each company, and reviewed their work on occasion.
But, the report says Katehi minimized her role in the plan when she told UC President Janet Napolitano that the communications department was handling the contracts.
Investigators say she lied when she told the Sacramento Bee that she did not know how UC Davis was first introduced to the company Nevins & Associates.
The report says she also told the Chronicle of Higher Education that the Nevins contract “came out of the communications department,” and that she “was not involved in it,” and that she, “was not aware of these particular contracts.”
The report also notes Katehi double-billed the university and outside interests for expenses incurred on a single trip.
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