A former fundraising executive at UC San Diego alleges in a lawsuit that Chancellor Pradeep Khosla sabotaged her career, wrongfully firing her after she said she had raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the fast-growing campus.

Jean Ford (Courtesy of Jean Ford)

Jean E. Ford said in a suit filed Monday in San Diego County Superior Court that Khosla was verbally abusive to her and other female administrators at UCSD, and regularly treated women more harshly than men.

She included the University of California Board of Regents as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, claiming that the board was aware that Khosla had acted unprofessionally but had done little to rectify matters.


UCSD said in a statement Thursday that it has “only recently become aware of the complaint, which has not yet been served on the University. UC San Diego and Chancellor Khosla strongly condemn all forms of intimidation, harassment and discrimination and are committed to fostering a climate that is supportive of our students, staff and faculty.”

The 49-year-old Ford characterized Khosla as a bully who sometimes exhibited petty behavior. In the lawsuit, she says:



“Five women (not including Ford) who were over the age of 40 were specifically targeted by Khosla and those loyal to him for daily abuse in the form of demeaning and humiliating comments, undermining their leadership, interference with their ability to do their jobs, sabotage, disparagement and harassment.”

“Khosla became very angry with (Ford) when she reported on a $300 million estate gift she was working to secure from another donor, asking her why he should accept the gift since it would likely be realized after his tenure was over, even though he approved the strategy to secure the gift and told (Ford) to make it happen.”

“If a male donor complained about something, Khosla demanded that the issue immediately be addressed. If a female donor complained, Khosla would comment that she was just being difficult.”

“While Plaintiff was at a work event with Khosla, she commented that her heels were hurting her feet. He responded that the only reason for her to wear heels was if she was wearing a skirt so people could see her ‘taut calves.’ He then informed her that since she regularly wore pants, she shouldn’t bother with heels.”

“In meetings, Khosla interrupted and spoke over the top of women; peppered them with questions about minute and unimportant details, demeaned and mocked their contributions to conversations and achievements. Males did not suffer the same abuse.”

Ford claims that Khosla treated her the same way, and that eventually became part of a strategy to fire her in August 2018, after she had served three years as the chief fundraiser for UCSD’s huge health sciences program.

Not long after Ford was fired, the University of California Office of the President opened an investigation of the Chancellor’s behavior. The investigation was sparked by a whistleblower complaint from an unidentified person.

Claire Doan, a spokeswoman for UCOP, said the system would not comment on the lawsuit or the investigation it undertook on Khosla, who is 62.


Ford was recruited from New York’s Columbia University in 2015 as part of UCSD’s campaign to raise $2 billion over a 10-year period. So far, the campus has raised $1.85 billion.

She said her relationship with Khosla soon began to sour, largely because she wasn’t provided with the support and responsibilities that she had been promised.

Ford was fired in August 2018, losing a job that paid more than $400,000 a year.

She claims in the lawsuit that the university said it fired her for sharing her computer password with an assistant, and for allowing an assistant to take an online course on her behalf.


Ford also claims that the university told her that her performance was “less than satisfactory .”

Ford says she did share her password, claiming that it was “common practice at UCSD.” She also says that her assistant “had informed her after-the-fact” that she had taken a class for her.

But Ford strongly objected to the university’s claim that her performance was subpar, stating that she played a pivotal role in UCSD’s current capital campaign.

Her attorney, Kristina Larsen, said Ford raised about $300 million and was working to raise another $500 million when she was fired.


Campus officials have disputed the claim that Khosla has a problem with women, noting that he has appointed three women to deanships and recruited, promoted or retained at least a half dozen women to the President’s Cabinet, including Margaret Leinen, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Khosla also appointed all six of UCSD’s college provosts, four of whom are women.

The tensions at UCSD surfaced late last year when two of the school’s former administrators told the Union-Tribune that an investigator working for UCOP had asked them whether Khosla had exhibited bullying or abusive behavior toward university staff.

The women are: Judy Lane, who had been executive director of special events and protocol; and Stephanie Barry, who had been director of alumni affairs.

Larsen said she was not interviewed by the investigator. But she served as Lane and Barry’s attorney and provided the UCOP investigator with documents for the inquiry.


Larsen also told the Union-Tribune last year: “The Chancellor and his staff insulted, berated, humiliated, and isolated my clients, among other things. One described feeling as if she were suffering from PTSD after leaving UCSD.”

Khosla, who became chancellor in 2012, also has many supporters.

“Pradeep is a doer,” Academic Senate President Robert Horwitz said in December. “To some, he could seem imperious, impatient. Others say, ‘Finally, someone who is getting things done.”

Leinen said: “The reality is that the university is being managed very well by the Chancellor. A very small minority disagrees.”