Warning: This article contains content related to sexual assault.
UC Regents dismiss UC Davis faculty member for sexual misconduct
The UC Board of Regents dismissed former UC Davis chemistry professor Ting Guo from UC Davis faculty on Jan. 19 due to past sexual misconduct.
A UC Davis Title IX investigation was launched in 2021 and found that Guo sexually assaulted a high school student who worked in his laboratory in 2010, according to a statement from the UC Davis newsroom. UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May and UC President Michael V. Drake recommended his dismissal to the Regents.
The complainant attended UCSB in 2018 — where she reported the assault to the UC Santa Barbara Police Department — and has not attended UC Davis at any point, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
UC Davis received an initial report in 2018 outlining allegations against Guo from the UC Santa Barbara Police Department. UC Davis said it was unable to commence a Title IX investigation at the time, as the report “requested that a criminal investigation be completed before the complainants name or the respondent’s name were released,” according to a Jan. 12 statement.
In early 2021, a civil lawsuit outlining the allegations against Guo was released, and Guo was placed on paid leave as a Title IX investigation commenced.
Guo was formerly chair of the UC Davis chemistry department and employed at the university for two decades. Guo also worked with high school students as a mentor in the Young Scholars Program — a summer program in which high school students complete a research project in a campus lab — until 2019. The UC Davis Title IX office is conducting a review of all UC Davis programs involving minors.
“We are grateful that the Regents agreed with our recommendation to terminate the employment of Dr. Guo effectively immediately,” May said in the newsroom statement. “Sexual misconduct is not tolerated at UC Davis. We encourage people to report abuse and seek support.”
UCLA’s first sorority celebrates centennial
The Pi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta at UC Los Angeles commemorated their 100-year anniversary on Jan. 20 with a ceremony on campus.
“(The chapter) has helped Black Bruins thrive, achieve and succeed,” UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt said at the ceremony, according to the Daily Bruin. “The Delta alumni and current students here are upholding a proud tradition of service and leadership, and that tradition follows in the spirit of Delta luminaries, chapters across the country.”
The sorority was founded by five Black women in 1923, and was UCLA’s first Greek life organization. Speakers at the event highlighted the activism of the chapters’ members, such as advocating for the creation of UCLA’s ethnic studies research centers in the late 1960s, according to the Daily Bruin.
The sorority will receive three commemorative, historical markers across campus, including a crest in the Black Bruin Resource Center, a banner in Kerckhoff Hall and a plaque in Meyerhoff Park honoring the five founders of the chapter.
“These women were able … to create a space here on campus and demand that they be taken seriously and change UCLA history for the better,” Chapter Treasurer Debrina Collins said to the Daily Bruin. “And so I think Black history at UCLA is really Pi chapter history here, because we started everything.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 2 of the Jan. 26, 2023, print edition of the Daily Nexus.
