For-Profits Sought Legitimacy Through Boards of Directors
The Sacramento Bee reports that UC-Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi has resigned her seat on the board of the for-profit Devry Education Group. Her seat on that board represented a failed effort by Devry to seek legitimacy by paying respected academics to serve and, ostensibly, to provide advice on the academic direction of the company.
Similarly, Corinthian Colleges, Inc., whose spectacular collapse surprised even its harshest critics, boasted Leon Panetta, Marc Morial, and Timothy Sullivan, on its board.
These board members, who were paid for their association with the for-profits, may or may not have contributed ideas of value to the institutions, but they seem not to have been effective ways to save the institutions from criticism and attack.
How much longer will University of Arizona’s Ann Weaver Hart remain associated with the for-profit education industry by serving on Devry’s board?