Maybe, but probably not. She seems to have been preparing for this:
Denice Dee Denton, chancellor of the University of California-Santa Cruz, apparently jumped to her death Saturday morning from the 44th floor of a San Francisco building where she shared an apartment with her partner.
Denton, 46, landed on the roof of the building's parking structure, said San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens. He was unsure if she had left behind a note. The medical examiner's office is investigating the death as a suicide.
The nationally recognized educator had been in the eye of controversy since she arrived at UC-Santa Cruz less than a year and a half ago.
Sources said Denton had retreated from the campus in the weeks before her death, canceling appointments and clearing her calendar. She began a short medical leave on June 15, a campus spokesman said.
I was just spouting with the Det. Columbo speculations.
It sounds like the late chancellor was either tired of campus conflicts or
maybe was afraid of further financial scrutiny of her situation at
UC-Santa Cruz.
But, in my silly made-for-TV movie plot...I still like the idea of
the business/economic professor doing it to save the campus from
financial ruin.
Yeah, I know that's taking license...the California taxpayers know
no limits when paying for goofy stuff at their schools, so that couldn't
be a reason to dispatch a cash-crazy chancellor.