The Chronicle of Higher Education
Berkeley’s Chancellor Misused Fitness Benefits, Investigators Find
By: Chris Quintana

Private investigators have found that Nicholas B. Dirks, chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, improperly took advantage of the institution’s fitness benefits, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

The investigators’ report of their findings, which the newspaper said was heavily redacted, states that Mr. Dirks failed to pay nearly $5,000 in gym-membership fees and personal-training costs, and transferred unspecified exercise equipment from a public gym to his private home.

The investigators — from an independent firm, Public Interest Investigations Inc., that was hired by the University of California Office of the President — found that Mr. Dirks had violated rules regarding the unauthorized use of campus resources or facilities, or the “entanglement” of private interests with University of California obligations, the newspaper reported.

Mr. Dirks did not comment to a Times reporter. But a spokeswoman for the university, Dianne Klein, did tell the newspaper, “Dirks apologized and repaid the money owed even before the investigation was completed, in September.”

The chancellor abruptly announced in August 2016 that he was leaving his post. Carol T. Christ, interim vice chancellor and provost at Berkeley, was named this month as Mr. Dirks’s successor. She will take office in July.