University of California system names 1st Black president

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dr. Michael Drake was chosen Tuesday to be president of the University of California, the first Black leader in the system's 150-year history.

Drake, a seasoned university administrator, replaces Janet Napolitano in overseeing a sprawling, 280,000-student system dealing with issues of accessibility for Blacks and other minorities, along with slashed budgets and upended campus life because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Drake is a UC-trained physician who served as chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, and also led The Ohio State University before retiring from that job last month.

The UC Board of Regents unanimously approved Drake's appointment.

“I’m excited and ready to go,” Drake told the board, noting the challenging times amid the pandemic, the threat of climate change, and “the yawning wounds of social injustice that we see in so many ways that really tears at the fabric of our lives."

He noted that the UC system is “best equipped worldwide" to be “fully engaged in finding solutions."

Napolitano, whose seven years as president end Aug. 1, said Drake's appointment is “one more step in our university’s ongoing effort to ensure that the university reflects the rich diversity of our state. It follows other recent decisions by this board to address issues of inequity and systemic racism in our society.”

Napolitano and Drake's references to systemic racism and social injustice echo the topics of mass protests worldwide following the death of George Floyd, a black man, who died in Minnesota after a white officer pressed a knee to his neck.

The first woman to serve as UC president, Napolitano added that: “I recognize the significance of these firsts and while I hope that this kind of leadership diversity at our...