SAN FRANCISCO — The chancellor of the University of California, Davis, was removed from her post and put on administrative leave on Wednesday pending an independent investigation into a number of possible violations, including using university funds to scrub negative references to the university on social media.

The chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi, had been the target of student protests and criticism by California lawmakers. In addition to the controversy over paying to improve the university’s online profile, she had been criticized for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from a publisher of student textbooks and a for-profit education company, which critics said were conflicts of interest.

A statement released late on Wednesday by Janet Napolitano, the president of the University of California system, said investigations would include “questions about the campus’s employment and compensation of some of the chancellor’s immediate family members, the veracity of the chancellor’s accounts of her involvement in contracts related to managing both the campus’s and her personal reputation on social media, and the potential improper use of student fees.”

“The president, with the support of the leadership of the Board of Regents, has determined it is in the best interest of U.C. Davis that Chancellor Katehi be placed on investigatory administrative leave from her position as chancellor pending the outcome of this investigation,” Ms. Napolitano said in the statement.