Incoming UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi was involved in an e-mail exchange that may have helped the daughter of a prominent Greek family gain acceptance to the University of Illinois, according to published reports.
A campaign adviser to state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias e-mailed information about the teen to Katehi in February 2008 after being contacted by the Rev. Alexander Karloutsos, a politically connected Greek Orthodox priest, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
Katehi then forwarded the details to a vice provost.
After the student's admission, Karloutsos helped with a Giannoulias fundraiser in New York that raised at least $120,000.
Karloutsos told the newspaper he reached out to Giannoulias adviser Endy Zemenides on behalf of the applicant, the daughter of a family friend.
"Endy Zemenedis (sic) is the campaign manager for the state treasurer. This is the application of the daughter of a fairly prominent Greek family in Chicago," Katehi wrote in an e-mail to the vice provost.
The teen subsequently was lifted from the school's waiting list and accepted.
When Katehi was notified of the acceptance, she wrote back, "Excellent!"
In an e-mail statement sent Friday to The Bee, Katehi denied any wrongdoing and said, "All I did was inquire as to the status of the student's application, and nothing more. I took no action and made no effort to alter, influence or interfere with the admissions decision of this applicant.
"As provost, it is absolutely appropriate for me to make such inquiries or requests for status reports. I referred to Mr. Zemenides by his title simply because that was how I knew him."
California state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, said – also in an e-mailed statement – that UC President Mark Yudof should put on hold Katehi's offer to become chancellor. Yee, a critic of the UC administration, previously asked Yudof to investigate Katehi's connection to the school probe in Illinois, but Yudof declined.
"This is not the type of leadership we need at the helm of UC Davis," Yee said.
University of California officials have said they are standing firmly behind their selection of Katehi as UC Davis chancellor.
UC spokesman Peter King has told The Bee that Yudof is "100 percent behind her and has no reason not to be."
In a statement, Zemenides said Thursday he wasn't acting as a representative for Giannoulias when he forwarded the student's information to Katehi.
"I did not, have not and would not represent that I was inquiring on behalf of the treasurer for this student or anyone else," he said.
Giannoulias is considering a run for the U.S. Senate. A spokesman for his campaign said the treasurer didn't know about the admissions inquiry by Zemenides.
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