UC Chancellor Resigns From For-Profit College Board After FTC Lawsuit
DAVIS (CBS / AP) -- The chancellor of the University of California, Davis has resigned from the board of a for-profit college company that the Federal Trade Commission is suing for deceptive advertising.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi quit a $70,000 a year post with DeVry Education Group on Tuesday under pressure from a California lawmaker and consumer groups, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Katehi and University of Arizona President Ann Weaver Hart were appointed to the DeVry board last week. The company operates DeVry University, Carrington College and other schools.
The FTC sued the company in January for allegedly misleading students about their job and earnings prospects.
Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and consumer groups had told Katehi she shouldn't lend credibility to the company by associating with it.
Davis spokesman Gary Delsohn says DeVry recruited Katehi before the FTC filed its January lawsuit.
In a statement released by DeVry on February 22, announcing Katehi and Hart's appointment to the board, Katehi is quoted saying, "I look forward to participating on DeVry Education Group's board of directors and thank them for inviting me to join."
Katehi also says, "DeVry Group's goal to enable a quality learning experience that inspires and educates students to be our next generation of leaders is essential to our nation's progress."
The January FTC lawsuit claims that DeVry's advertisements deceived consumers about the likelihood that their students would find jobs in their fields of study. The FTC also alleges that DeVry deceived consumers by telling them they would earn more than those graduating with bachelor's degrees from other colleges or universities.
The FTC alleged that DeVry was deceptive when they claimed that 90 percent of DeVry graduates actively seeking employment landed jobs in their field within six months of graduation.
DeVry counted business administration graduates as working in their field when those graduates were working as a server in a restaurant or as a car salesman, according to the FTC.
DeVry maintains that the FTC lawsuit "is without a valid legal basis."
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