Former UC Davis Chancellor Katehi Way More Obsessed With Her Online Reputation Than Initially Thought
from the get-me-off-the-google dept
Earlier this year, we discussed how UC Davis detailed in a report that it spent $175k with a reputation management firm to try bury the 2011 pepper-spraying incident that has become so infamous, as well as to bolster the positive reputation and search results of its former Chancellor, Linda Katehi. While Katehi was still Chancellor, she had issued something of a mea culpa that was unfortunately riddled with excuse-making and vendor-blaming, but in which she also appeared to take responsibility for the report's contents. Students protested anyway, as they should have, given how the report detailed that Katehi was far more interested in her own reputation online than she was in any kind of reform of campus police. Which, if you'll remember, was what kicked off all of the negative reporting starting in 2011 to begin with.
But now a new report has been issued that makes it clear that the $175k with the one reputation management vendor was just the tip of the iceberg, and that Katehi's obsession with her own online reputation was far more serious than anyone had known. Indeed, her attempts to meddle in her own online search results started long before the 2011 pepper-spraying incident.
When she was appointed chancellor, news accounts questioned her tenure at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was provost and allegations emerged that children of politically influential backers were given preference in admissions. Katehi denied knowing anything about those admissions. The report found that she was so concerned she would be tainted by the scandal that she called an aide at UC Davis, whose name was redacted from documents, and asked him to take quick action.
“Though Chancellor Katehi was on vacation, she contacted and asked him to edit her Wikipedia page concerning her knowledge of the Illinois admissions scandal,” the report found. “(The aide) advised the Chancellor that they should not edit her online biography because Wikipedia would attribute any edits to UC Davis. Staff made the revisions under protest.”
In 2011, after a campus officer strolled past a line of seated protesting students and calmly unloaded a pepper spray can directly at them, the ensuing backlash was met by Katehi primarly with an expanded effort to control what the wider internet thought of her. While the initial reporting indicated a single vendor had been paid $175k on Katehi's request to try to control messaging about the school and herself through a barrage of good, but trumped up, press, UC Davis actually hired three different reputation management firms to do this, all to the tune of over $400k. And she appears to have been more concerned with her own reputation than that of the school she was to be stewarding.
Katehi and her staff sought out firms on the East Coast and in Sacramento, meeting with them and discussing how to create a LindaKatehi.com webpage, edit Wikipedia posts and submit op-eds under her name to publications that might crowd out negative press from others. The report noted that improving Katehi’s reputation also would improve that of the university’s. But documents show that she constantly sought help in what one aide recalled as her desire that they “get me off the Google.”
“Linda wants to understand generally how we plan to address the lingering negative pepper spray-related online search content associated with her name,” reads a September 2012 email from Barry Shiller, who was brought in after the pepper-spray incident to handle her communications strategy.
All three firms eventually hired by UC Davis at Katehi's request promised to bury the 2011 incident through editing in positive content to the Wikipedia pages of Katehi and the school, by creating a brand new website bearing Katehi's name and filled with positive coverage, and to create "listening reports" to detail any news coverage that mentioned her or the school so that coverage could be further addressed by the outside reputation consultant. Included in all of this was an investigation into those who were creating negative edits on these pages. What Katehi intended to do with that information is unclear, but it hardly seems like the information could be used for anything but retribution.
It goes without saying that as we, the link above, and several other online media outlets are discussing these revelations, and placing them alongside the original 2011 incident for context, the work of the three vendors and the nearly half a million dollars paid to them has failed. Reputation management of this sort rarely works. And when it blows up, as it usually does, the cover-up is always viewed as even more horrendous than the original crime, which is now thrust back into public discussion.
And this was really easier than making an honest apology and trying to reform campus police abuse?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: linda katehi, pepper spray, reputation management
Companies: uc davis, wikipedia
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Sure, I'll tale 3 orders of reputation management, please.
Would you like that Super-Streisanded?
Absolutely!
made the First Word by Dark Helmet
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Sure, I'll tale 3 orders of reputation management, please.
Would you like that Super-Streisanded?
Absolutely!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fool and her (or someone's) money
However, a talented spiritualist such as myself might be able to tweak her karma a bit to avoid further troubles. Does she still have that big pocketbook with her?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Fool and her (or someone's) money
Give me 10k and I would spend it all having fun while doing absolutely nothing and it would be leagues better than what she paid 500k for.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Didn't matter. She could give 2 shits about Police abuse or the kids they physically assaulted for nonviolent protest. It was more important that she look good. Definitely not the person you want in that position.
Looking at her... I am not surprised.
Rep management huh... Linda? How'd that work out for ya?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Linda+Katehi&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Criminal behavior
E
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wrong firms
Same end result with less money spent, and completed is way less time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Greek" is also slang for a certain activity.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
on a Positive note
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
She is a wonderful person
Yo, Linda, Please send all remunerations to my paypal account. You will find my rates to be quite reasonable and just as effective as what you are used to.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I really don't see how reputation management firms can get away with this sort of thing, pocket the money, and leave their customers to deal with the consequences.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Linda Katehi was fooled, and not just once. She is not fit for office. Any office.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
s/Streisand Effect/Katehi Effect/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: s/Streisand Effect/Katehi Effect/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Frankly:
Those companies are eager to provide a successful improvement to bill for, and the easiest improvements are on the kind of havoc you organized yourself.
And once you have identified a potential customer, you'll make it a habit to inflate all future smears in order to be able to provide good improvements.
I mean, this is like an announcement "I'm an easy target for extortion, your place or mine?".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Product Idea
[ link to this | view in chronology ]