Kevin Reed, vice chancellor for legal affairs, to leave UCLA
University of Oregon has hired Kevin Reed, the vice chancellor for legal affairs at UCLA, to serve as its future chief legal adviser. (UCLA Media Relations)
By Nicholas Yu
Aug. 19, 2015 5:25 p.m.
Kevin Reed, the vice chancellor for legal affairs, will be leaving UCLA Oct. 2 after the University of Oregon hired Reed to serve as the chief legal adviser under the title of vice president and general counsel, according to an email statement sent to faculty by Chancellor Gene Block.
In the over seven years Reed has served at UCLA, a position which primarily provides campus-wide legal advice to administrators, Reed defended against several prominent charges filled against UCLA.
Between 2009 and 2012, Reed assisted UCLA with legal support after the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined UCLA after an investigation into the death of Sheharbano Sangji.
Sangji was a 23-year-old research assistant who suffered second- and third-degree burns on 40 percent of her body from a chemical fire while working in UCLA chemistry Professor Patrick Harran’s laboratory.
Reed said in a Los Angeles Times article he disagreed with a Cal/OSHA investigation which found Harran, in addition to UCLA, to be at fault for Sangji’s death.
In December 2011, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Harran and the UC, and the University wanted to fight against the charges. The charges were dropped in July 2012 after the District Attorney and the regents reached an agreement to improve University safety measures.
In 2013, Reed supported withholding the release of conversations between then-UCLA environmental health sciences Professor John Froines and anti-pesticide scientists while Froines was serving as the chair of an independent committee which focused on analyzing contaminants in the air.
Block said in the staff-wide email that he has reached out to Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh to create a search committee in order to find a successor. Block added that an interim vice chancellor will be announced soon.
Tobin Klinger, a University of Oregon spokesperson, said the general counsel assists in providing legal advice to senior leadership at the university. The general counsel position was promoted to a vice chancellor position in May.
Reed will begin his new job Oct. 5.
Compiled by Nicholas Yu, Bruin senior staff.
