Prominent legal scholar L. Song Richardson left UC Davis three years ago to assume the presidency at Colorado College. She has resigned from the presidency effective June 2024 citing constraints on her ability to engage in national policy discussions on what have become hot topic or controversial issues. She wrote that as the national dialogue around “equity and fairness” has intensified, and that she has felt “increasingly torn between my desire to pursue that work as an academic with the freedom to fully engage in these debates, express my personal views, and challenge the status quo” and her responsibilities as president of the college. Richardson, who is Black and Korean, is the first woman of color to hold the presidency at Colorado College. She received her A.B. from Harvard College and her J.D. from Yale Law School.
President Richardson plans to return to the UC Davis law faculty (where she had served as dean prior to joining Colorado College) and she plans to launch a new institute focused on equity, opportunity and leadership.