The embattled chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley is facing criticism for the construction of an “escape hatch” to flee student protests near his office.

The Daily Californian, the student newspaper for the state’s most prestigious public university, reported last week that the administration had spent $9,000 on the construction of an “emergency exit” near Nicholas Dirks’ office in response to protests and sit-ins that have targeted the administrator.

The paper went on to publish a staff editorial criticizing the exit, which it called “the most recent in a series of increasingly absurd missteps” involving Dirks.

“When students have something to say, administration should open the door, not create new closed ones,” the senior editorial board opined.

Dirks has faced harsh criticism from faculty and students over his handling of a slew of sexual harassment cases, the university’s budget, and a $700,000 expenditure on a security fence around his official residence. He is currently under university investigation for allegedly using university facilities (including a personal trainer) without paying for them.

“The chancellor should welcome student protests not fear them,” said Michael Burawoy, co-chair of the Berkeley Faculty Association. “The installation of an escape hatch from his office reflects a fortress mentality, in line with the $700,000 fence he had built around his campus residence, also supposedly to ward off protesters.”

The university insists that the uproar is much ado about a door.

University spokesman Dan Mogulof rejected the criticism of the “escape hatch”, calling the phraseology “the concoction of a 19-year-old headline writer”.

“It’s a door,” he added.

Mogulof confirmed that the extra door was installed for “security concerns” that include the tendency of students to protest in the area, but said that the door was requested by the staff, not Dirks, and that it was not even directly in the chancellor’s office.

“I can’t say more categorically that he had nothing to do with this decision,” Mogulof said. “He neither approved nor disapproved. He’s got more important things to do than approve or disapprove the installation of a door.”