Saragoza steps down, UCI vice chancellor takes over

By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Alex Saragoza resigned Tuesday after 10 months of serving as
vice president for educational outreach for the University of
California.

Although the reason why Saragoza stepped down from his position
is unclear, UC officials suspect that his decision was the result
of an investigation accusing him of academic fraud.

In his letter of resignation to Richard Atkinson, Saragoza said
he was concerned that his efforts “to advance the
university’s educational outreach initiatives have been
compromised by recent outside events.”

According to UC officials, those “events” most
likely point to reports that Saragoza was involved in giving course
credit to two UC Berkeley athletes who did not attend class.

Saragoza was not taking calls from the media Tuesday, according
to a UC spokesman.

“Dr. Saragoza has made many important contributions to the
university’s outreach efforts and, while I believe his
decision was a necessary one, I accept his resignation with great
personal regret,” Atkinson said in a statement.

Atkinson named UC Irvine’s vice chancellor for student
affairs, Manuel Gomez, as interim vice president until he finds a
permanent replacement.

“I’m honored that president Atkinson has asked me to
serve in his administration,” Gomez said. “I believe he
has navigated the university very courageously and
effectively.”

While the decision will lead to changes at the office of the
president, outreach efforts at individual campuses will not be as
affected.

“Each program at each campus is different,” said
Jack Sutton, executive officer for UCLA outreach. “Although
we meet and work together, it will not impact individual
campuses.”

The duties of the vice president for educational outreach
include overall coordination of outreach at the UC as well as
working with funding and the legislature.

Sutton said Saragoza differed from his predecessor, Karl Tister,
in his more personal approach when handling outreach affairs.

“Tister was previously chancellor of UC Santa Cruz and had
an administrative point of view,” Sutton said.

“But Saragoza had been a professor in Chicano Studies at
Berkeley and grew up in a migrant farm worker family,” he
continued.

University officials reacted positively to Atkinson’s
choice of naming Gomez as Saragoza’s temporary
replacement.

Manny Gomez has shown years of dedication at UCI and I’m
looking forward to working with him, said student regent designate
Tracy Davis.

Officials consider UCI’s outreach program as one of the
most innovative and successful in the UC system.

Gomez said his approach will be more of a strategic one; he
plans to work closely with the California legislature and the UC
regents.

He sees the current state of the outreach programs as
“somewhat diffuse.”

“I believe in a strong collaborative approach,”
Gomez said. “These complex sets of (outreach) initiatives
need to be presented in a more coherent manner.”

Gomez will take over the position for six months but said he
does not seek the role of permanently filling Saragoza’s
shoes.

“I believe in educational opportunity,” Gomez said.
“It’s among the most important responsibilities of a
university to sustain affordability, accessibility and improvements
in academic achievement in all students in California.”