The chief executive at a large university can easily be a lightning rod for criticism, and Denice Denton took her share of hits.
Denton took over the university's top job in February 2005, and her tenure immediately was marked by scrutiny from students and state leaders into the creation of a high-ranking UC position for her longtime partner and the expensive remodel of her university-owned home.
Denton, 46, died Saturday in an apparent suicide in San Francisco, police reported.
Her mother, Carolyn Mabee, was in the building when Denton died, police told the San Francisco Chronicle. Mabee reportedly said her daughter was "very depressed" about her professional and personal life.
Denton had been on medical leave since June 15 and was expected back on campus this week, a university spokesman said.
"It's a shock, I had no reason to expect this," UCSC lecturer and City Councilman Mike Rotkin said Saturday. "The last time I saw her was about two weeks ago, and she seemed fine at the time. She was not happy with the focus of so many people on what I'll call a scandal at the top of the UC, but it wasn't like she was despondent. It was more like she thought people were paying attention to the wrong stuff."
Former Sentinel Publisher Dave Regan, who served with Denton on the fundraising UCSC Foundation, said that when he saw Denton about a week ago, she was "very social" and it appeared nothing was wrong.
But many have said Denton was unhappy at UCSC, reported John Wilkes, recently retired director of the Science Communication Program.
"No one could say quite why — it was just a bad fit," he said. "She might have been unused to dealing with people outside of science and engineering, because she never had to deal with them before."
Denton drew criticism from many sides as soon as she replaced M.R.C. Greenwood. Employee unions and students upset about increasing student fees attacked the university's creation of $192,000-a-year job for Gretchen Kalonji, Denton's partner of nine years. A $600,000 upgrade to Denton's university-owned residence included a $30,000 enclosure for her dogs, which she requested during contract negotiations.
The pay perk was seized upon by state legislators in a systemwide executive-pay controversy about how UC rewards top ranking officials. That controversy has not yet settled.
Campus employees criticized the expenditures as lavish while the university is raising student fees, cutting budgets and, workers and their supporters say, underpaying staff .
Criticism of the chancellor escalated to the point that Denton worried about her personal safety.
"People were coming to her house and banging on the door wanting to talk about issues," Regan said.
Denton took the job in the midst of a multi-year process to update the university's long-range growth plan, which could bring 6,000 more students to the campus. She repeatedly defended the plan when it was challenged by city leaders, residents, faculty and staff.
In April, she received dozens of threatening phone calls and e-mails from people upset that student anti-war protesters forced military recruiters off campus, a campus spokeswoman said. And earlier this month, Denton was followed across the campus by chanting protesters against "institutional racism" at the university. They blocked her from leaving until she agreed to watch them perform a skit. She left before the performers finished.
Student activist Josh Sonnenfeld said Saturday he was saddened by the death.
"As head administrator, there's a lot of pressure placed on her because she had to make so many decisions," he said. Denton was "just beginning to get a grasp on the concerns of students and workers."
More than 700 people applied for the chancellor job when it opened, twice as many as for the same post at UC San Diego.
Upon Denton's appointment, UC President Robert Dynes called her "the perfect candidate for Santa Cruz" for her managerial skills, her initiative in launching new programs and her efforts to put engineering on the radar screen of prospective students.
A pioneering woman in the sciences, just last month, Denton was awarded the 2006 Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award, a prestigious national recognition of exceptional work that advances opportunities for women and girls in science.
Cabrillo College Brian King said it can be lonely at the top.
"There are relatively few people you can talk to you who understand the decisions you have to make," King said.
Bingo. This is why I have studiously avoided management for the past 30 years...
And this was a "highly qualified" person for chancellorship of a large university??? Whatever. Sounds like not.