By Jennifer Medinaj | The New York Times
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The choice sounded ingenious: Take a high-profile political figure — a former governor and cabinet member — and have her apply her acumen to the task of rebuilding one of the great public university systems ravaged by decades of eroding state support.
So when Janet Napolitano, the former secretary of homeland security and governor of Arizona, was named president of the University of California last summer, expectations soared.
But her political skill was confronted almost immediately by a liability on campuses filled with foreign-born students, hundreds of whom lack legal immigration status — her role in the Obama administration’s deportation of 1.9 million unauthorized immigrants.
Now Ms. Napolitano faces a dual task of reviving the University of California and simultaneously overcoming the deep distrust of her within some quarters of the system.
Related: Janet Napolitano’s Replacement, Jeh Johnson, to Tour the Border in Arizona
