UC Davis Katehi Protesters End Their Sit-In
DAVIS (CBS13) – The students who staged a sit-in outside UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi's office have ended their protest.
After five weeks camping out, the student protesters say they achieved their goal of bringing local and national attention to what they say is Katehi's unethical behavior.
The students vacated the building around noon and walked in silence, with tape covering their mouths, around campus.
The protesters aren't the only ones putting the pressure on Katehi to step down. On Thursday, two more lawmakers called for her resignation, coming just one day after it was revealed the university spent tens of thousands of dollars on a public relations campaign to bury bad press.
Assemblyman Mike Gatto and Freddi Rodriguez both took to Twitter on Thursday to express their frustration and called for Katehi's resignation.
Gatto spoke to us via Skype.
"Having the chancellor on a board of a for-profit textbook company when our students are the ones purchasing those text books, that was bad enough," Gatto said. "But then to hear the university spent hundreds of thousands on a P.R. firm – money that could be spent in the classroom – that was the last straw."
While no one from UC Davis would talk to on camera, they sent us a statement Thursday saying their PR strategy to clean up their online image was an effort to preserve the great work of the university.
As for UC President Janet Napolitano, she remains silent on both the calls for Katehi's resignation and the recent bad press.
