The following story was first printed in Saturday’s Daily Post. To get important local news stories first, get in the habit of picking up the Post at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.
BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims, who has drawn attention for her affair with a student while she was a dean at Stanford, said she won’t seek the position of vice mayor.
Council members will decide next month who will be the new mayor and vice mayor for 2026. Typically, the vice mayor becomes mayor. But Lythcott-Haims said in her newsletter Friday that she believes “others are better suited to the task” and doesn’t want the role.
“In the normal flow of things it would seem that it’s ‘my turn’ for the latter role given that the people alongside whom I was elected have already served as vice mayor,” Lythcott-Haims wrote.
Lythcott-Haim told the Post there are people who she believes could better fill the role but hasn’t decided who she will support.
“We have a very strong council so I think over the next four weeks I’ll be doing a lot of thinking about that as my colleagues will and I’m confident we’ll select somebody who is well suited to the task,” she said to the Post.
The council is made up of Lythcott-Haims, Pat Burt, Ed Lauing, George Lu, Keith Reckdahl, Greer Stone and Vicki Veenker. Burt, Lauing and Stone have already been vice mayor and mayor. Veenker is currently vice mayor.
Lythcott-Haims said she feels others are better suited to become vice mayor, but declined to elaborate.
When asked if her affair with a student when she was dean of freshmen at Stanford played a part in her decision, Lythcott-Haims said she would leave it at saying she feels others are better suited.
Former student Olivia Swanson Haas published a long and lurid essay about their affair in July 2024.
Haas was 22 at the time. She said her parents complained to Stanford, alleging manipulation and abuse of power. Lythcott-Haims left the university and pursued her career as a writer.
When Lythcott-Haims ran for council in 2022, she didn’t disclose her reason for stepping down as dean.
• July 11, 2024 — Councilwoman Lythcott-Haims had an affair with an undergrad while she was a dean at Stanford
• July 19, 2024 — Lythcott-Haims silent after affair with student revealed
• Aug. 24, 2024 — Emails show behind-the-scenes scramble when Lythcott-Haims revelations hit
Isn’t she up for re-election next November? Mayve she doesn’t plan to run or doesn’t think she’d get re-elected. If so, makes sense to not become vice mayor in a lame duck year?
Julie Lythcott Haims should be disqualified from public office. Don’t take my word for it -just read what the student she had an affair with wrote in her own words.
[Post removed — Terms of Use violation. No links, please. The link that was removed was to the essay written by Olivia Haas. The link can be found in the story above.]
It is appalling that someone who did what Julie Lythcott Haims did would even be considered for public ofice. Anyone who is the parent of a college student needs to imagine what it would be like if the college dean asked your child out on a date, then told them to keep the whole thing private and secret. You would be horrified. And anyone who has been the victim of such a predatory affair knows the trauma this does to you. Julie Lythcott Haims does not have the character to be a leader for our city. It’s just like Trump.
What she did is unforgivable and Julie Lythcott Haims should be permanently disqualified from public office.
Just Google “Julie Lythcott Haims apology” and you’ll see why Julie Lythcott Haims doesn’t deserve to be a city council member, not to mention Vice Mayor. It’s not just this incident, in which she took advantage of of a young student and caused lifelong trauma. It’s her over and over again saying awful things to or about other people, and then apologizing.
IN this incident, Julie Lythcott-Haims literally hid her relationship with a Stanford undergraduate for years and when running for office and getting elected, only admitting it after Olivia Haas published her story describing “abuse, manipulation, and/or emotional harm” and saying Julie “had power over me that I did not fully understand until much later.”
That’s the judgment Julie Lythcott-Haims brought into public office: secrecy, denial, and responsibility only when forced.
What message does it send to our kids if someone with Julie Lythcott-Haims’s history of lying and taking advantage those with less power continues in elected office? That harm can be concealed, minimized, and then shrugged off?
Stepping aside from vice mayor isn’t accountability. Julie Lythcott-Haims remaining in office tells every young person watching that their safety is secondary. Our community, Olivia, and all victims deserve better.
JLH should not have been elected as dog catcher. Please focus on your next book on boomerang kids and their barely legal girl friends…. Please dont run again…
She misled her voters and wasn’t honest with the people of Palo Alto. Had she disclosed this bombshell she never would have been elected. The people have woken up and will hopefully not vote for a second term. Very sad how clueless she is regarding finance and the deficit. She refuses to condone antisemitism, yet calls her colleagues Jim Crow supporters. One last thing Julie, please stay away from our children. You aren’t a role model.
Condemn*** antisemitism
I have a child in college AND in PAUSD. I cannot imagine paying $60K a year in tuition – placing my trust in a school to guide, support, and protect my young adult – only to find out that their dean was pursuing an affair with a student. It’s every parent’s nightmare. The power imbalance alone is staggering. What kind of person, in a position of responsibility over vulnerable young adults, does something like this and still feels entitled to access children in our local schools? This woman needs to stay away from our children. They are not a prop for your book tour
I sincerely hope that JLH’s recognition of others being better suited to serve as Vice Mayor will carry over to her recognizing that others would also be better suited to serve on council (so we won’t see her name on the next ballot!).
Julie Lythcott-Haims’ took advantage of a young student when she was Stanford Dean, hid it for years, and still refuses to take full responsibility. The student herself wrote how abused she felt – just google for “Olivia Haas.” Now Julie Lythcott-Haims is still on City Council, planning to run again, and even publishing a new book on parenting!!!!!! You literally cannot make this up. This sends a terrible message to children that adults in power can harm them and get away with it. How can we let someone like Julie Lythcott-Haims hold office while pretending to teach about raising adults? She should never be in public office again, and our community must never forget what she did.
I couldn’t agree more – others are better suited. May this be the end of Julie Lythcott-Haims’ political career.
Vote her out in 2026 unethical people should not be on the board. This woman lied for ten years and was only truthful because her victim told her story. She’s not sorry. She’s only sorry she got caught. She needs to step away from anything related to finance and she needs to condemn antisemitism. She has failed this city when she decided to run for congress
Julie should have resigned from Council when her seduction of a student, while Julie was Dean of Students, was revealed. What a shame that there is no mechanism in our charter for the Council to remove a member for dishonorable actions. It is the height of arrogance that Julie continues to write books explaining how to raise confident young adults and how to nurture strong, healthy egos in our children. What a pathetic joke on parents of young adults and teens! What a hypocrite Julie has shown herself to be! Palo Alto deserves better.
Shame on Palo Alto. It’s cruel to shut your eyes to a victim’s account of her “queer relationship .. kept .. secret because when I was twenty-two and a senior in college, I had an affair with a well-known dean at my university—a married woman twice my age” [Portion removed — Terms of Use Violation. Links aren’t allowed.]
Our city council could have censured her – they didn’t. Our city could have barred her from interacting with our elementary school children in her official capacity – they didn’t. Her colleagues allowed her the privilege and access, in a position of power and influence, to impressionable young children.
Shameful. She should be removed from city council.
Julie Lythcott Haims took advantage of her position of authority, harmed a vulnerable student, and told her to hide what was happening. It’s bad enough to have someone with no character as President. We don’t need the same kind of “leader” in Palo Alto.
Wise comments here, thank you fellow voters. For instace, “[J. L.-H.] should have resigned from Council when her seduction of a student, while Julie was Dean of Students, was revealed. What a shame that there is no mechanism in our charter for the Council to remove a member for dishonorable actions. It is the height of arrogance that Julie continues to write books explaining how to raise confident young adults …” Well said, and worth repeating – ad nauseum.
It is bewildering that if J. L.-H. had embezzled just one thousand dollars, she would have been kicked out of Palo Alto City Council. But JLH “only” damaged a vulnerable student under her tutelage, so that’s okay. Shameful. JLH has disqualified herself for any public office. Even her post now that she isn’t seeking the vice-mayor job oozes arrogance and self-entitlement. JLH stole my vote in the last cycle. Enough of her.
Has she turned her home over to the Ohlone Indians? She said publicly that our town was stolen from them. So I expected her to set an example for the rest of us.
It is a shame to see Julie Lythcott-Haims step back from the Vice Mayor role, likely due to the recent storm of bullying and hyperbole. The Change.org petition circulating recently was rightly removed for its misleading language—labeling an affair with a 22-year-old adult as “predatory” or “grooming” was factually dishonest and violated harassment policies.
While the petition is gone, the damage is done. By stepping aside, Julie is taking the high road to avoid distraction, but it sets a worrying precedent that “vile” online campaigns can successfully derail the normal flow of City Council leadership. We should be judging council members on their legislative work for Palo Alto, not on hyperbolic attacks regarding their personal history.
What a morally bankrupt hypocrite!
Lythcott-Haims always portrays herself as the victim, as she does above.