University of California President Janet Napolitano, who oversaw historic expansions of the 10-campus system and championed immigrant students, but whose management structure faced criticism and embarrassing scrutiny, said Wednesday she will step down in August 2020.
Napolitano, the former Democratic governor of Arizona and a homeland security secretary, made the announcement at a meeting of the university system’s Board of Regents in Los Angeles.
“My time at UC has been deeply gratifying and rewarding. I have been honored and inspired every day to serve this institution alongside incredibly dedicated, passionate people,” Napolitano said in a statement. “The decision was tough — and this moment, bittersweet — but the time is right.”
Napolitano, 61, has battled a recurrence of breast cancer but said her health is good and did not play a role in her decision to step down.
“All of my tests are clear. So that was not a factor in my decision,” Napolitano told reporters in a conference call, saying she will complete her seventh year in the job before stepping down.
During her tenure, Napolitano has overseen an expansion of the public university system, enrolling historic numbers of students and making it easier for in-state students to transfer from community colleges to the university system.
She oversaw reforms of policies on sexual misconduct and was a staunch supporter of the rights of immigrant students.
In 2017, the university joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an action that led to injunctions that allowed hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients to extend their authorization to legally live and work in the U.S., including students in the UC system.
But Napolitano also was criticized by state lawmakers after a state audit found problems with her office’s financial management. A report from State Auditor Elaine Howle in 2016 found that Napolitano’s office failed to disclose millions of dollars in reserve funds. It also said Napolitano’s top aides had sought to suppress campus criticism of her office in surveys that were supposed to be confidential and sent directly to the state auditor.
The investigators found that Napolitano had approved of the plan to review the survey responses.
