[labster]

There's only one reason they ever remove a UC Chancellor: they stop raising money for the University. Donor cash is job one. Obviously, she's good at her job if she makes money, even if she moonlights in jobs that actively harm students.

The only solution is to stop donating to UC Davis -- and UC in general. If the Annual Fund calls you, ask them "Has Katehi resigned yet?" That's what I do. If you really want to help students at UCD, give to ASUCD or CalPIRG or something, not to a slush fund of a Chancellor who spends student fees on her own image.

Disclaimer: UCD alumnus here.

Edit: Although five lawmakers calling for her resignation might also decrease donations to the UC: http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/art...

[alanh]

When students from my own alma mater call and ask for contributions, I have on occasion related how I was a student when the 2008 financial crisis happened, and that my school’s response was to charge every student an extra $500 a semester and call it an “economic recovery fee.” This from a state school where the state Constitution required education to be “as free or nearly free as possible”!

[ginko]

This might sound silly but why would an alumnus, who spent thousands for tuition already, donate money to his university in the first place?

[labster]

Because University was the best time in your life, and every day now is a dreary slog of mediocrity. By giving money, you can reclaim a part of your glory days that won't come again. You can feel like giving to other students will help their lives, as a pale imitation of what it would be like to be with that group again, having fun and chasing girls instead of supporting a dead-end marriage with a mind-numbing job. If you have enough money, you can even inject your name into student life by getting a building named after you -- you can prove to everyone that you are a success, even if you're still unhappy and growing older by the day.

Or maybe you just believe in supporting higher education. Either way.

[SilasX]

If you believed in "supporting higher education", there are probably better ways than supporting the one exclusive blue-blood institution you happened to attend ...

[wildmusings]

If you truly want to support higher education, your best bet is to refuse to donate until the colleges cut their wasteful spending and lower tuition. This is doubly true for private universities. When they call asking for money, tell them why they're not getting any. Nothing will change until the money stops flowing.

[brianwawok]

Your self interest lies in it making your resume better. If you and all your class gave say 10% of your income to your school, maybe new students would graduate knowing more and make you look good. Or maybe the school gets bigger TVs and a better football coach.

[Retra]

Or maybe the administrators give themselves a raise.

[labster]

That's not how academia works, at least at a public school. Administrators rarely get raises, and get pay cuts whenever the economy gets bad. This is why administrators are frequently overpaid when first hired, because they know that it's close to their earnings ceiling. If you want to get more income as an administrator, you have to move to a new job.

No, that money is going to athletics for bigger telescreens and not for student athletes. Ever since the Larry Vanderhoef chancellery, Davis has been spending more and more on athletics, with little to show for it.

I just wish Emil Mrak was still around as chancellor -- that guy was awesome. He managed to keep students from massive protests at UCD during the free speech movement era by shipping them in free buses to protest at UCSB, and he introduced all of the bicycle infrastructure in Davis. Instead, we have a profiteer running the campus, in cahoots with the nation's former top cop.

[danso]

The alumni who donate do so because they believe they got far more than their money's worth and they have enough money today to "pay it forward", so to speak. Because the return on investment for education is something that takes a non-deterministic amount of time to realize (both monetarily and in personal reflection), it's not coincidence that most most alumni donors do so decades after graduation.

[tkinom]

Good idea, will ask that question next time when I get the "Annual Fund" call.