News
2006-06-27
Lesbian head of
U.C., Santa Cruz, commits suicide
The lesbian
chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz,
committed suicide early Saturday morning. Denice Dee Denton,
The lesbian
chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz,
committed suicide early Saturday morning. Denice Dee Denton,
46, apparently jumped from the roof of a 43-story
apartment building in San Francisco and was found by a
guest at a nearby hotel, the Los Angeles Times
reports. She was pronounced dead at the scene by
paramedics.
The apartment
building is where Denton's partner of eight years, Gretchen
Kalonji, who was out of town on business, lives. The two met
while working at the University of Washington,
where Denton was dean of the engineering school and
Kalonji was a professor of materials science and
engineering, before Denton was appointed chancellor of the
U.C., Santa Cruz, campus in February 2005, according to the
Times. Kalonji later took a management position
within the University of California system at its
headquarters in Oakland.
Denton was
thought to be the first openly gay chancellor in the U.C.
system. Her death was a "tremendous loss for the entire
university family," U.C. president Robert C. Dynes
said in a statement, calling her "an accomplished and
passionate scholar whose life and work demonstrated a
deep commitment to public service and to improving
opportunity for the disadvantaged and underrepresented."
Although there
had been criticism of expensive renovations to Denton's
campus home as well as the hiring of her partner, a U.C.
spokesperson said such concerns had been resolved and
that Denton had faced no discipline, according to the
Times. (The Advocate)
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