DFA Board Calls for Katehi’s Resignation

The DFA Board calls for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi. The Chancellor’s authorization of the use of police force to suppress the protests by students and community members speaking out on behalf of our university and public higher education generally represents a gross failure of leadership.

Given the recent use of excessive force by police against “occupy” protestors at UC Berkeley and elsewhere, the Chancellor must have anticipated that, by authorizing police action, she was effectively authorizing their use of excessive force against peaceful UCD student protestors. The Chancellor’s role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it.

We also call for a policy that will end the practice of forcibly removing non-violent student, faculty, staff, and community protestors by police on the UC Davis campus. The University of California should be taking a leadership role in encouraging the exercise of free speech, not in suppressing it.

 

(The list of other groups that have called for Chancellor Katehi to resign has been updated and moved to its own post.)

231 Comments

  1. “The University of California should be taking a leadership role in encouraging the exercise of free speech, not in suppressing it.”

    Thanks to all the cosmic forces, and to the DFA Board as well!

  2. “I didn’t send my baby to Davis to be treated like a weed or a cockroach!”

    The optics of this, let alone the actual substance, should lead to Spicuzza’s and Katehi’s ouster, despite their furious PR damage control operation.

  3. I am a faculty member at Southern Illinois University, and I am utterly revolted by this display of police brutality and torture, intitally at UC Berkley and now at UC Davis, against innocent students expressing their first amendment rights. The Chancellors and UC Regents must be held responsible for this disgusting action that has destroyed the image of the UC system, and they should resign or be fired immediately. The police involved need to be prosecuted and jailed.

    Michael W. Collard, Ph.D.
    Associate Professor
    Department of Physiology
    Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
    Life Science III, Room 2081
    1135 Lincoln Drive
    Carbondale, IL 62901-6523

    Office: 618-453-8430
    Fax: 618-453-1527
    Email: mcollard@siumed.edu

  4. The Chancellor’s “concern for the safety and health of the students involved in the protest” sounds disgustingly condescending. Perhaps she would be better suited to leading a Day Care on elementary school than a learning institution for, you know, adults.

  5. Thank you for making this unequivocal statement. UC Davis faculty are rightfully ashamed at the thuggery displayed yesterday. This is not the Soviet Union or East Germany, it is the United States of America and we do not pepper spray non-violent students sitting on the ground. Shame!

  6. Chancellor Katehi’s authorization to use police force knowing the history of police brutality is uncalled for and shows a lack of concern for students and others. She needs to resign her postion to allow another percon who can use good judgment in these situations.

  7. I didn’t realize that the very first Amendment of the constitution seems to be expendable simply because it is inconvenient when we collectively voice our displeasure about being oppressed.

  8. rofl — the moron faculty who probably encouraged the students to disobey the police & administration in the first place is now whining and Waaahmbulancing about the outcome.

    No worries though. They will immediately hide trembling behind ‘academic freedom’ and tenure if criticized.

    Hey privileged elite faculty. How about an end to tenure?

  9. Thank you for taking this stand. Police brutality has no place in our society anywhere, and even less so on university campuses. The UC Davis administration has disgraced itself and its top officials should resign, after firing the police officers responsible for the outrages of yesterday.

    John Protevi
    Professor of French Studies
    Louisiana State University

  10. Thank you for taking a stand. Tens of thousands of Americans support your effort to remove Ms. Kathehi from her post.

  11. I am a faculty member at the University of Oxford, England, and I am shocked and horrified by the displays of police brutality, intitally at UC Berkley and now at UC Davis, against non-violent students holding a peaceful protest. The Chancellors and UC Regents must be held responsible for this action that has seriously damaged the image of UC throughout the world, and they should resign immediately. The police officers involved need to be prosecuted and jailed.

    Peter Jeavons
    Professor of Computer Science
    University of Oxford
    Oxford
    UK

  12. SHAME, SHAME ON U.C. Davis police for pepper spraying nonviolent demonstrators, and to the Chancellor for authorizing/standing by, AND THE DEMONSTRATORS SITTING PEACEFULLY! The armed-to-the-teeth thugs blithely exercising their swaggering power deserve the contempt and disgust of the nation. I cannot find strong enough language to condemn their actions.

    Police departments expect us to act non-violently in front of such blatant thuggery. We’re supposed to be peaceable while they arrogantly gloat and strut their brutality. If we make a move in opposition, WE are called anarchists and advocates of violence.

    David James, MLS
    Associate Faculty, Department of English
    Affiliated Scholar, Department of History
    Assistant Editor, Wolfson Press
    Indiana University South Bend

  13. Thank you for this. Ten peaceful protestors who were sitting on the ground did not deserve this, and UCD has the attention of the whole world, not for the contributions they make academically, but for the shame of their poor decision making. All they had to do was quietly arrest those TEN protestors, and the whole demonstration would have been over. The students were playing by the Civil Disobedience playbook that has existed for decades, but I guess the UCD Campus police lost their copy? I hope the DFA will also call for the resignation of the Police Chief who watched from a distance on Friday and said she was ‘proud’ of what her officers did to those peaceful, tuition paying students.

  14. Good work! I agree your Chancellor, and her spokesperson who stirred the pot, ought to go. I hope you will persevere and obtain a vote of “no confidence” by the entire faculty. If the faculty will not cooperate with her in the functioning of the University, the Chancellor cannot administer, and will have to be replaced. It happened here; you can do it there.

    Peter McCall
    Professor of Geological Sciences
    Case Western Reserve University
    Cleveland Ohio

  15. Thank you for your leadership on this. I have already written your Chancellor and suggested that she resign due to her failure to uphold the fundamental norms of the academic community.

    Joel Sipress
    Professor of History and Chair of the Department of Social Inquiry
    University of Wisconsin-Superior

  16. Bravo to the DFA Board in its courageous declaration against the Chancellor’s disgraceful authorization of police state action against non-violent demonstrators.

    The Chancellor’s “concern for the safety and health of the students involved in the protest” is beyond ironic in the face of the actual violence inflicted upon the students. Rather, it is utterly, transparently and hopelessly pretextual.

    What hazards could the students possibly have encountered inside those menacing tents? Chemical warfare?

    Oh, wait.

  17. i wonder if the student have started their lawsuits yet, other cases like this in the past have paid out a lot of money enough to pay for there educations at another school.

  18. As a member of the UC Davis faculty I am utterly appalled at the brutal actions of the UC Davis police. I was not at the site but have viewed the videos of events before and after the use of the pepper spray. I am convinced that the actions of those officers were completely unjustifiable and out of proportion with respect to the situation on the ground, even if one is willing to accept the stated reasons for the instructions they were given to clear the space. Chancellor Katehi is indeed the ultimate decision maker and has a great deal to answer for concerning her authorization of police action, especially so soon after the disastrous and overblown actions at Berkeley and elswehere. However, Police Chief Spicuzza is fully responsible for the actions of her officers thus it is her decision-making that led directly to this outrage. She either authorized the actions of her officers or had no control over them. In either case she has proven herself to be utterly unfit for the position of UC Davis Chief of Police and must resign immediately. It must then be determined to what extent Chancellor Katehi knew about the possibility of such actions and what limits, if any, she placed on the police action that she authorized. Her continued credibility as UC Davis Chancellor will depend on the results of that inquiry. I am horrified and ashamed today to represent UC Davis to the world as a result of these actions and we must ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again on our campus.

    Tony J. Simon
    Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

  19. Bravo! Thank you for speaking out against such obvious abuse of power and brutality. There is power in numbers and power in standing on the right side of morality and history.

  20. I am glad to see at least one University making the American decision, the right decision, and the moral decision. Showing leadership that is right and just to our young adults, instead of telling them to do as we say not as we do. It couldn’t be more important this year. The year the sleeping giant awoke from it’s great slumber. Stand Up Fight Back – your First Amendment gives YOU the freedom. Thank You DFA Board – Kudos to you.

  21. Thank you so much for this. As an alumnus I am appalled and dismayed by this display of unnecessary brutality, and feel that everyone who was complicit in it should be removed from office immediately. Katehi and the UCD Police have brought shame on their university and community, and the university’s response should be swift and appropriate.

  22. Honestly, I feel a lot like I imagine the sleeping masses did when they woke up one fine morning to Kent State. I’m still reeling that this is my country but at least I’m waking up.

  23. How can this be? Turning like rabid dogs on their masters, the UC Davis Faculty Association has called for the resignation of Chancellor Katehi.

    Apparently these no doubt left wing radical dirty f*cking hippie intellectuals think they are supporting old fashioned ideas like freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble for redress of grievance promised in the Constitution and Bill of rights.

    How old school. How so pre-9/11. Don’t they realize that 9/11 and the Patriot Act changed all that, forever? Those rules don’t apply. Maybe these hippie faculty members should be shipped off to Guantanamo for re-education and attitude adjustment. Yeah.
    That’s what they need.

    Don’t they understand that the police and the upper level administrators of the university must protect the 1% from these radical revolutionary students?

    Remember, this was the horrible attack on the police that triggered the police spraying pepper spray in the faces and down the throats of these violent students, some of whom were deservedly coughing up blood still hours later.

    http://keepamericafree.com/images/peppersprayucdavisupclose.jpg

    Oh, the humanity! How that poor man was obviously suffering!

  24. As a student in a university in California, I’m moved by how many teachers have stepped forward in both this statement and the comments that have followed it. It is encouraging to know that the people who are teaching us, at the least, do care for our well-being, both physical and intellectual. Many thanks to all of you for holding the appropriate people responsible.

  25. Congrats to these brave faculty! These universities claim they are trying to train students to go tackle the biggest challenges in the world. This doesn’t just include the relatively “easier” things we face in the U.S., like income inequality, politicians who don’t listen, poor media outlets….but the stuff the rest of the planet faces…massive starvation that is often happily allowed by repressive regimes, truly evil tyrants responsible for mass slaughter and unspeakably horrific acts on women and children and innocent people across the globe for simply saying the wrong things, etc.

    If a University Chancellor, Trustees, or anyone on a campus says, “Look, I know you feel strongly about fixing U.S. problems of inequality, the cost of education, etc., but you can’t sit there. You can’t sit there and chant. And you can’t put a tent there. That’s not a place where we want a tent. And we’ve told you several times we don’t want tents there, and that you can’t sit there, ESPECIALLY with arms linked which makes it hard to move you, even with batons.

    And since we don’t want you sitting or standing or chanting or sleeping there anymore, you have to understand that it is a perfectly justifiable response for us to now put these chemicals in your eyes and mouth, causing you to cough up blood, at best causing terrible memories and at worst some slight psychological trauma. So, it was nice that you did these things, but if you can see after this, and you’re still into making positive changes, please, take our great education and go out there and tackle the truly terrible problems on earth. Now that you’ve seen what we, your leaders, deem as perfectly acceptable forms of punishment for inconveniencing people in the safest place in the world, we are certain you are not at all afraid to speak up for anything ever again, especially if it involves going up against vicious criminals and governments who are currently getting away with public murder on a daily basis.”

    This is sending one hell of a message about what we really want our students to do with their lives and what they should accept about the way they are treated. Build a better ipod, accept your debt, watch tv, stay in line, shut up….anything beyond this, well…leaders of the safest, most free nation on earth have the moral and legal right to temporarily blind you, so you can imagine what you will rightfully suffer if you stand up for even greater causes.

  26. I wrote the Chancellor an e-mail earlier this afternoon. I recently served as a judge for a student research competition that some UC Davis students did a great job in…so I was pretty shaken when I saw the footage, and even more upset when I saw the Chancellor’s response. I commend Dr. Nathan Brown for his open response to the Chancellor.

    As a junior faculty on the tenure-track myself, I feel that Assistant Professor Brown’s letter was very brave. I’m happy to see the response from the DFA. It would be good to also see Lt. Pike reprimanded or asked to resign.

    —Karmella Haynes
    Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
    Arizona State University
    Tempe, AZ

  27. Thank you for condemning the anti-free speech actions of yesterday.

    Note to Nathan Brown, the professor who wrote an open letter to the chancellor demanding her resignation:

    Your tents on Amazon are on the way! Please add more tent models to your wish list. As people buy them, the price rises. Some less expensive models will facilitate more purchases to continue the free speech protest.

    https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3T6Z62WIDOER7/ref=cm_wl_sb_o?reveal=all&filter=all&sort=date-added&layout=standard&x=4&y=7

  28. I stand with you in demanding Katehi’s resignation. The actions of the police were violent and despicable, but it’s inconceivable that they would have acted that way without her explicit or implicit go-ahead.

  29. As a Davis alum, I wholeheartedly support the DFA’s call for Chancellor Katehi’s resignation, and also support calls for the termination of Lt. Pike. The force used against students who posed no threat to either the public or the officer is a violation of the role of a peace officer. Those who committed the acts of violence and those responsible for them have to go.

  30. As a shocked Davis parent I want to thank the faculty for standing up and calling for the Katehi’s resignation.

  31. I thank the students and the faculty for their courage and commitment to non-violence and speaking truth to power. I stand with you.

    UC Berkeley Alum ’05

  32. I am a UC Davis alum (class of 1984), and my fond memories of the school have now been tarnished by the incredibly disproportionate actions of the campus police and, even more, by the defense of the indefensible by campus authorities. Fortunately, these negatives are offset by my admiration for both the civic engagement and the restraint shown by the students themselves.

    Both the campus police chief and the chancellor should resign.

  33. Please consider contacting Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig to ask that he investigate whether Lt. John Pike committed a crime in this incident, and whether other officers aided and abetted or conspired with him in furthering any crime.

    District Attorney Jeff Reisig
    301 Second Street
    Woodland, CA 95695
    Ph: (530) 666-8180
    Fx: (530) 666-8423
    district.attorney@yolocounty.org
    jeff.reisig@yolocounty.org

    Specifically:

    California Penal Code § 12403.7(a)(8)(g)
    Any person who uses tear gas or tear gas weapons except in self-defense is guilty of a public offense and is punishable byimprisonment in a state prison for 16 months, or two or three years or in a county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

    And:

    §12401. “Tear gas” as used in this chapter shall apply to and include all liquid, gaseous, or solid substances intended to produce temporary physical discomfort or permanent injury through being vaporized or otherwise dispersed in the air.

  34. The policeman isn’t the issue. Chancellor Kateh isn’t the issue.

    What percentage of Americans approve of and defend the behavior of the police in this and similar instances? Fifty? 60? 40 percent? Surely something like that. And what percentage of Americans would feel positive–or downright gleeful–about pain caused to liberal protesters? Again, we can be confident that this is a non-trivial fraction of Americans.

    Get all up in arms about your administrators and their employees; that’s fine, but, to be fair, they are hardly misrepresentative of the general population.

    America is broken, possibly irrevocably. There’s a “side” that just wants to do harm to the other “side.” That isn’t changing, except to get worse.

  35. As the parent of a 22-year-old and as someone who remembers Kent State, I want to share my shock and horror (Yes horror upon seeing the firearms displayed by police in riot gear)over the unacceptable action at UC Davis against students peacefully exercising their right to free speech.

    “Shame on you.” was an appropriate chant.

    Carol Klopfer, Ph.D.
    Miami, FL

  36. I am an educator in a Chinese college. I have been teaching in Chinese colleges and universities for the past decade. In that decade, deep in the heart of one of the most brutal police states in the world, I have never, not even once, seen brutality from university and civil authorities that comes even close to what I saw from UCB and UCD in recent days.

    I say this with a very strong observational foundation, I might add. In the year 2003, in the first institute I taught in (Jiujiang Institute, http://www.jju.edu.cn/), there was a full-fledged student riot—complete with massive property damage (a several hundred metre section of the school’s outer wall was torn down)—over restrictions placed on student movement during the SARS crisis. I was able to witness first-hand how the school’s authorities reacted. Despite being a well-connected official in one of the most brutally authoritarian states in the world, the president of the university went out, facing personal danger (students threw a variety of objects from their dormitory windows at him including filled thermos bottles), to *negotiate* with the students. The riots were brought back under control, tempers were cooled and the crisis brought to an end, get this, without the use of guns, chemicals, batons or even policemen.

    Congratulations, America, you have actually managed to surpass China’s brutality—and make no mistake, the Chinese government is a collection of brutal thugs!—in this sphere.

    I hope you’re proud.

  37. I am student at UCB and I am proud of you guys for following civil disobedience in a non-violent matter. You did the right thing. I was there when they beat us up and believe me, I know it’s not easy especially if you are on the sideline watching them hurt friends. STAY STRONG!! We support you!!

  38. UC Santa Barbara applauds & supports the student protesters for their adherence to nonviolent protests and also praises the UC Davis Faculty Association for their condemnation of the police’s violent suppression.

  39. You are on the right side of history, thank you! I praise you for standing for something. There can be no wishy-washy response to events like this. There must be accountability.

    There will be another UC Berkeley and another UC Davis if top officials are not held accountable. I encourage professors and faculty associates across the US and internationally to organize and take a stand.

    Without a resounding message of peace, the next event like this could end tragically.

    Non-violent students must be allowed to protest. Police should never show up in riot gear to handle a non-violent student protest. Students who are allegedly breaking the law can be arrested by officers WITHOUT the use of batons, fists, choke holds, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, tear gas, pepper spray, etc etc. Police officers manage to handle dangerous situations every day without equipping riot gear. Police officers manage to arrest real criminals without riot gear and without using these weapons on a routine basis every day in cities everywhere.

    Using these weapons against unarmed, non-violent students amounts to punishment and excessive force. This is undeniably obvious to any rational person, and anybody who disputes this is unfit for leadership. Police should not be allowed to punish suspects of alleged crimes. They are innocent until proven guilty. A judge and jury of their peers decides guilt and punishment.

    Thank you again for taking a stand.

  40. Thank you all for taking this step. I lived for many years in California, had one child who got master’s and doctoral degrees plus did post-doctoral work in the UC system, and I certainly never wished my taxes that went to support the state universities to enable such wanton, depraved, sadistic violence on anyone, let alone completely peaceful persons exercising their First Amendment rights. The extremely poor judgment on the part of this chancellor (and police chief, to say nothing of the criminal(s) who did the actual spraying) have shown her (and them) utterly unfit to hold such a position.

  41. Please also request the resignation of the Chief and Lt. who also chose to use excessive force to remove students. We need police officers that support the academic mission of the university and know how to connect with our community.

  42. Peter, have you got some citations for your numbers? I’d really like to see the percentage of Americans who approve of teargassing of non-threating students.

    So then, just who *is* to blame for the police forces decked out in riot gear attacking the students if not Chancellor Kahtehi, Chief Annette Spicuzza and Lieutenant John Pike? Certainly NOT the young adults sitting peacefully. This is EXACTLY why there are there protesting in the first place. How else do you expect to fix America? Voting doesn’t do it any more.

  43. I stand with you in calling for the resignation of Chancellor Kahtehi. She is ultimately responsible for a criminal attack on students pursuing their constitutional right to protest peacefully. This is the antithesis of what a university should stand for, and it is unthinkable that anyone could effectively lead a campus after defending those actions. As for calling for an “investigative comission”, well ok. But I think the dozens of videos freely available already speak pretty clearly.

    Stuart Dryer
    John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Biology
    University of Houston

  44. She needs to go now, This is wrong! The officer pepper spraying non-violent students is John Pike. Give his dept a call 530-752-1727.

  45. Ryan: I appreciate your anger at frustration at DaMav’s comment, however I do not agree with how you chose to speak against him. DaMav is not only allowed to disagree, but to voice his disagreement how he sees fit. And while you are free to respond in your own way, might I suggest that it would be better to counter his argument with facts and examples that prove him wrong than to respond with your own vitriol. By telling him to shut up you not only act to silence an opposing view, you do so through the use of forceful and violent words.

    To the DFA Board of UCD:
    Kudos on your public statement in support of the protesters. I am curious- have any faculty joined in with the ranks of student protesters?

    Melissa Mahon
    Museum Educator
    Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

  46. I am an alum of UCD and donate to the school over 3000 a year. I will stop giving money to the University unless Katehi immediately resigns or is forced out.

  47. Please keep in mind without tenure the faculty would not be in a position to speak their minds freely and defend the rights of students. Keep this in mind next time somebody starts denigrating the tenure system.

  48. Are we, the Davis faculty members going to protest this assault on our students?

    Noelle L’Etoile
    Associate Professor
    Center for Neuroscience
    UC Davis

  49. As a Canadian author with a graduate degree from Boston University, let me say how overjoyed I am by the brave stance of Dr. Nathan Brown and the entire DFA. I am old enough to remember the radicalization of my own sixties generation. History is repeating itself, except that now we have a heavily militarized police force (in Canada as well). Trained only to be hammers, they regard everything as a nail. Chancellor Katehi’s shameful lack of condemnation in her response shows that, in fact, she doesn’t support either her students or her faculty. Perhaps, after resigning, she should consider enrolling as a history undergraduate. Her instructors could offer her a few examples of what happens to countries where people don’t stand up against the brutality and arrogance of those in power.

  50. Very ugly. Katehi shouldn’t even have waited this long to resign. She should have done it right away–without even being asked–the only kind of damage control that might have put her in a better light. As for Lt. Pike–if he’s not certifiable then he should be prosecuted. Just crazy. Policemen and women all over this country should take a long hard look at themselves. Showing up in full body armor when there’s not even a hint of violence from the Occupy protesters. Teargassing, macing, beating, shooting protesters with teargas canisters and rubber bullets. If anyone is out of control it is the police. Who’s calling the shots?–and where is Obama? I have to think that the majority of Occupy protesters who voted last time around (like myself) voted for him because we thought he offered real hope. It seems more like we have woken from the 8 year Bush/Cheney nightmare and walked into an altogether different kind of nightmare. Some of those with power and wealth want to turn this country into a police state. Shame on them. They must not win.

  51. I went to university in South Africa in the peak of the anti-apartheid years, and this looks exactly like what the apartheid police used to do to us when we peacefully demonstrated against apartheid.
    And the world watched on CNN, as they do now.
    Don’t try to excuse it or justify it. You’ll end up sounding as preposterous as PW Botha.
    This tarnishes not just UC Davis but American society overall.

  52. I am a non-traditional student in Minnesota. Miles away from Davis and Berkeley, but I wept. I had just brought up the subject of Kent State to my English class, no one had ever heard of it. I was born a couple years after it. But most of my classmates are too young and don’t care yet.
    I thank you for your decision. I shutter at the apathy in the young today. It hurts when people get punished when they speak out or actually care about things. Do to a disability I am unable to be on the front lines of the Occupy movement but I do all I can from here, including supplies.
    Thank you for taking a stand for our students and future.
    Teri Schulte
    Saint Cloud State University
    Saint Cloud, Mn
    Psychology Major

  53. Stunned and horrified, my husband and I watched the youtube footage of police brutality against the student protesters on the Davis campus. As UCD alumni, and parents of a UC student, we support the position of the DFA Board and applaud its courageous statement calling for the resignation of Chancellor Katehi. I am so proud of the dissenting actions of students around this country. It gives me such hope. It is a shame that Chancellor Katehi cannot see the depth and significance of the Occupy movement.

  54. Shouldn’t we also ask for the resignation of high ranking police officials? That might be more effective than the Chancellor. They are the direct cause and direct supervisors of these rogue police officers. If the lower officers have no compassion, no morals and no sense of responsibility, that must be bred into their work environment.

  55. Thank you for taking this necessary step. There are many out here who are as proud of you now as of the students you must suddenly defend from the administration.

  56. I am a UC Davis alumni, BA/MA Rhetoric and Communication, 1989. UC Davis Faculty, I thank you for giving me the best education I could have hoped for. You deserve better than Chancellor Katehi. She’s not remotely worthy of representing this world class university which all of you have worked so hard to build. Thank you for supporting these actions.

  57. I am glad to see this unequivocal statement.

    Leslie Bary
    Asst Prof Spanish & Latin American Studies
    University of Louisiana
    MODL POB 43331
    Lafayette, LA 70504
    337 482 6814
    337 482 5446 fax
    lbary@louisiana.edu

    BA, MA, PhD University of California, Berkeley

  58. Thank you!! Thank you for standing up for your students, for our basic tights, and for being courageous enough to do so.

  59. I join your call for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi. Such behavior is unacceptable in ‘civilized’ society.

  60. Tried to send a brief email to Katehi at her UC-Davis address, urging her to resign, but my browser says her server’s down.

    Either she’s getting an “earful” or doesn’t want to hear.

  61. The bigger the belly…the shorter the cop…the less brains..and the these scum will follow even unethical, illegal orders.. It is treason..and should be named. No more ‘shame on you’ BS…name it!
    Treason, prosecution…no holds barred ..and right back at ’em…

  62. I am a Californian, taxpayer, husband of a UCD grad, father of a potential incoming UCD freshman. Who invited the Davis PD onto campus? Each party that invited or allowed them on campus is responsible and accountable for their actions. Katehdi must resign. The head of the UCD campus police must resign as well. I will not support the UC system as a whole again unless corrective actions are taken. And while it is my daughter’s decision to choose her university, my vote cannot be for Davis, Berkeley, or any other UC campus at this time. (unfortunately we just toured UC Riverside today…). Shame on Davis!

  63. Wow. This statement inspires. :

    Are we, the Davis faculty members going to protest this assault on our students?

    Noelle L’Etoile
    Associate Professor
    Center for Neuroscience
    UC Davis

  64. As a proud UCD alum I am appalled at what the police did. Everyone involved in making the decision to use force against students needs to resign. I am very proud of the Davis Faculty for taking this stand. Thank you all for standing up for the Constitution and what is morally right. Back 30 years ago the police were mostly local residents in tune with the community. What has happened since then? A sad day for every Aggie, but you have done the right thing.

  65. Thank you Davis faculty for demonstrating why teachers and students- not administrators, athletic coaches, or cops– should be in charge of higher education. You are bold and brave, and we stand with you.

    Sara Goldrick-Rab
    Associate Professor of Educatonal Policy Studies and Sociology
    University of Wisconsin-Madison

  66. I fully applaud and support this swift and unequivocal statement from the UCD faculty. Good luck to you all.

    Jeffrey Middents
    Associate Professor of Literature
    American University, Washington, DC

  67. L.R. asks, ‘and where is Obama’? My thoughts exactly. His silence as police everywhere use peaceful protests as excuses for torture and violence, speaks volumes.

  68. As a UC alumnus with a daughter of college age, I am appalled by the brutal actions of the UCD police. Their actions constitute criminal assault and battery, and the officers involved should be prosecuted. Further, the UCD police chief, who lied about the circumstances, should resign. And finally, Chancellor Katehi should accept responsibility for her role authorizing this assault, and resign as well.

    This horrific suppression of free speech resembles the last gasp of the dictators brought down by the Arab Spring. I witnessed police riots in the 1960’s aimed at the anti-war movement. The next step in the escalation of violence will be when they bring in the National Guard to shoot the protestors in cold blood, like they did at Kent State.

    Please know that you have my full support in this battle with oppression.

    John Shervais, Professor of Geology, Utah State University

  69. I am appalled at this blatant police brutality and the support of it by Mrs. Katehi. I hope that soon we will hear, very publicly, of mr. Pike and Mrs. Katehi being dismissed. Not to mention both of them being charged. I am fairly certain that the police is there to prevent crimes. If what officer Pike did isn’t a crime in my eyes it should be.

    I am very glad that mr. Pikes actions are not supported by everyone in the faculty. Free speach is definitely something Universities should support. Thinking and protesting are things that universities should encourage. Mrs. Katehi seems not to have understood this.

    Fir Spoel
    An outraged person
    Netherlands

  70. Nicely done with the decision for immediate resignation of the Chancellor. It’s a bittersweet win, no sensible person can gloat over the moral failure of another, there but for the grace of God go we all. It is especially encouraging to see the Davis Faculty Association not give in to the pressures other administrations are giving into around the country, and around the globe. Even after this dreadful attack happened on these students, the Chancellor had opportunity to acknowledge the outrage we felt across the country, yet she did not.

    Let’s hope those in power will look at UC Davis and think twice before consenting to abuse their power, and, though it does not seem likely, that the police who have taken on the role of teaching citizens lessons will return to their proper role to serve and protect. Perhaps once the guilty verdict is in on the police lieutenant who was responsible for the outrage we all witnessed, the rest of the country will stop with these gestapo tactics that the whole world is watching.

  71. Thank you for making this courageous statement. I am grateful to know that the DFA is in full support of the students. I am pained at seeing and reading about the brutality of the police against our peaceful protestors, and as a recent UCD graduate I applaud and support your decision in requesting that Chancellor Katehi resign. I hope that those officers responsible for the excessive force used against students will be held accountable for their actions as well.

    I may no longer be living in the city of Davis, but my heart is with all of you. I wish you all the very best.

    UC Davis Alum 2011

  72. As a wine merchant who has taken extension courses in the Department of Enology and Viticulture at UC Davis, I am saddened that cowardly minions of the 1% are given license to brutalize and torture peaceful students and protesters who are advocating various social justice issues. The video is absolutely sickening to any moral person.

    This police action shows that advocating social justice and challenging the status quo has no home at UCD. No, you are only allowed to study in pursuit of the almighty dollar and to learn how to obediently serve and protect the 1%.

    You, as the faculty, have the power to change this through collective action with all faculty members, workers and students throughout the UC system who want to empower the 99%. For a start, Chancellor Linda Katehi, UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza and the stoogy, UCD spokeswoman Claudia Morain must go.

    Until that happens, I will put my UC Davis cap in the drawer and no longer wear it with pride at wine tastings and festivals around the country.

  73. I wish to amend one thing: if I recall correctly, the motto of the Universities of California is “let there be light.”

    I hope this short phrase will be remembered and upheld by those who have forgotten. Thank you again for taking a lead in exemplifying this motto, DFA.

  74. This imagery of students being sprayed is nauseating beyond belief. In Chile, students were taken aboard helicopters and pushed from high altitude into the sea, killed on impact. Here, we had the Kent State incident. In other words, there is a long legacy of brutality to students. In both those cases, I think the positions of the students have been vindicated by time. Unless you want a repeat of those scenarios, we must remove those who would invite the brutal into the safe haven of universities. In this case, it’s not to prevent what events can lead to. With this event, we’ve arrived.

    If you can’t find yourself to take action, reach down inside. How do you want to know you reacted to this in the future? You must express your outrage, and in the future you will know you did the right thing.

  75. What did the UC Davis police actually accomplish with their despicable act of violence towards the peaceful students? Instead of a handful of students sitting on the path there were hundreds standing on the same path as the police made their cowardly exit. Chancellor Katehi must resign now.

  76. How bad was this?

    I’m a conservative with two (’83, ’87) degrees from UCD, and even I’m appalled.

    They weren’t in the street. They weren’t on private property. They were sitting. down. on. the. ground.

    Aside from my belief that those commenters comparing this police action to Kent State are idiots, I share the disgust with the people in charge of the institution we love so much.

  77. Deep gratitude to a courageous faculty. When a nation and groups within that nation turn their own organized militarized forces against peaceful dissenting citizens, a true police state is born. I have no doubt now that our own DHS is involved as architect, consultant or instigator. We have seen in a few short weeks police brutality evolve from inexcusable to blatantly felonious and horrific. We must be cautious to not become numb and conditioned to this rapid escalation of inhumanity.

    Katehi and Spicuzza must at the least resign immediately. Lt. Pike and others should be reviewed for criminal offenses and prosecuted. And more importantly as this pattern has evolved nationally, Obama must come out of hiding to answer for the brutality that has swept our entire nation…Police Departments have clearly received the go ahead to advance these campaigns. These Mayors and Chancellors are not operating in a vaccuum.

    We must all protest, always peacefully and in solidarity to protect democracy and Free Speech.

    Margie Gale, RN, MSN
    Nurse Clinician, Nurse Educator
    Franklin, TN

  78. HEADWATERS FOREST DEFENSE v. COUNTY OF HUMBOLDT
    Excerpt:
    Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the protestors, we conclude that Philip and Lewis are not entitled to qualified immunity because the use of pepper spray on the protestors’ eyes and faces was plainly in excess of the force necessary under the circumstances, and no reasonable officer could have concluded otherwise.

    CONCLUSION

    For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Lewis and Philip and remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion and with our prior decision to reverse the district court’s entry of judgment as a matter of law on behalf of Humboldt County, the City of Eureka, and their respective police departments.

  79. I have lived in Washington, D.C. since 1999, the year I graduated from UCD. While on the right coast, I’ve had to field hundreds of questions about where I went to college, from people who’ve never heard of UC Davis. A few years ago, I started prefacing my answer with, “You’re probably not familiar with it, but…” Almost no one contradicts me. I say “Davis” and I get blank looks. Fair enough. It’s not Cal or UCLA, it’s sleepy, sweet, anomalous little Davis.

    Imagine my astonishment today, when I saw “UC Davis” was a trending topic in D.C. on Twitter. I never expected us to be well known out here, and my heart sank when I learned why we suddenly were. I did not recognize my campus in those pictures and videos.

    I went to a university where dissent wasn’t just tolerated, it was encouraged and celebrated. The UC police were gentle to us, when they weren’t invisible. I feel terrible that current students don’t know the same college I went to, that they didn’t get to experience the same kindness and openness that I took for granted.

    I commend the Davis Faculty Association for standing in solidarity with your students, most alums and people all over the world. Your leadership will help to remove the tarnish and taint Chancellor Katehi and her jackbooted thugs have left on our beautiful school. Thank you for hewing to the motto, “Let there be light”.

  80. Chancellor Katehi, you have brought dishonor on your school, and on yourself, by authorizing the pointless and sadistic attack on non-violent, cowering, seated students who were not blocking anyone’s access to anything.

    Your behavior is inexcusable whatever its motive, Chancellor Katehi and Lt. Pike. If either of you have any self-respect at all, you would know that your only possible action now would be to resign.

    How do you sleep at night? How do you sleep?

  81. While I applaud and support your decision, and the guts it took to make it, I was also reminded of a recent incident in Idaho when the entire faculty senate at Idaho State University was suspended after a vote of “no confidence” in their President.

    http://thefire.org/article/13295.html

    Lisa Dawley, Ph.D.
    Professor, Boise State University
    UCSB Alum 1993

  82. Bravo to the DFA, and bravo to the students.

    For anyone who has carefully watched the video and then read media statements by Chancellor Katehi and the U.C. Davis Chief of Police, it’s obvious that there is an effort being made to invent a history to justify this outrage. So to the lack of judgement on Ms. Katehi’s part, I’d also say she lacks the integrity required for such an important position. And if this becomes a fight to save her job, she has without question lost her way.

  83. What was done to the UCD students was beyond disgusting. It made me feel like crying as one could hear the wails of pain from the students, they sounded like lambs to the slaughter. I’m very much FOR the recent protests (the student ones, the Occupy ones) but I wonder what good it will all do. Has anyone really ever been able to peacefully and successfully defy authority? I know Gandhi did but even his peaceful resistance took a very long time. I feel like different strategies are needed: peaceful ones but much more effective.

  84. katehi and specuzza must resign immediately and face civil/criminal action for their instigation/oversight of this disgraceful action. I fear that they may be sued before they resign thereby allowing them to dump their legal costs on to the CA taxpayer including the students who got sprayed.

  85. I do not know the laws pertaining to such an action but I would be filing a civil suit against each person responsible especially pike. I wouldn’t care if it went anywhere I would sue him personally as well as the chancellor. I would be on their front door steps every single day, night, holiday and whatever it would take. It’s beyond time that this stops. Militarized police, really? The police departments hire thugs intentionally. This practice must stop. Period.

    Time for the so called ‘elite’, those with money to be beyond the government and the law and who manipulate it for personal gain, to hear the message; We are done with you. The time has come for you to leave or we will remove you.

  86. Like everyone else I was astonished to hear about the extraordinary police brutality unleashed on the UC Davis campus on 18 November. The videos from that day show police treating peaceful protestors with the tactical equivalent of insecticide. This sort of barbarism sends the strongest possible message about the current UC administration’s priorities, and the way it relates to the safety and interests of its students.

    I write to condemn these priorities in the strongest terms, and in support of the ongoing and courageous protest organised by your students and staff against the privatization of the UC system.

    I write in support of Nathan Brown’s call for Chancellor Linda Katehi’s immediate resignation, and like many colleagues from outside California I will refrain from any professional association with UCD until she quits her post,

    yours sincerely,

    Peter Hallward
    Professor of Modern European Philosophy
    Kingston University London.

  87. In 2008 I was applying to colleges and UC Davis was one of two schools that made it to the short list. Seeing what has recently happened, I am VERY happy happy I decided to go with a different school.

  88. This particular police action, and their numerous other similar actions, is an offense to the people of this country. Police department seems to rather be a department of mercenaries who work for the company called government. The ridiculous part is that the mercenaries are paid by the very people, the tax payers, who they are brutally offending. This is a colossal injustice that none of us should be capable of tolerating.

    Linda Kathi’s calling police on students is a shame for the whole school. I see no other way of removing the stain than for the school students, faculty, and managers to ostracize the Chancellor, a person whose ability to tell basically morality from immorality is seriously compromised.

  89. I’m in line with Kurt Sperry: Lieutenant John Pike’s actions appear to constitute a criminal act. But, a step further back, I believe Chancellor Katehi’s actions can be seen as not only complicit but independently criminal in their own right. I think they both should be charged with felonies, multiple counts. And there’s no such thing as administration without oversight: somebody else should also be found responsible, and the University should be targeted with numerous lawsuits.

    Look, if somebody smacks somebody with a piece of rebar, you don’t put the rebar on trial. You charge the person. If a toddler shoots somebody with a gun, you don’t charge the toddler, they don’t even know what a gun is. You charge the neglectful parent.

    Katehi could not have acted in ignorance, nor can she be seen as innocent. Even if she tried to distance herself from the actions of the police, she can’t distance herself from her own experience in exactly what happens when she personally calls the police for the express purpose of disrupting protests.

    I’ve written to the UCD General Counsel expressing this opinion, and I intend to write to a couple of district attorneys and a few other UCD attorneys doing the same. And then maybe some outside attorneys, as well, just to throw chum in the water. I want to see this happen.

    Man, I can’t believe the evil people this world produces sometimes! And that’s why prison was invented.

  90. Katehi claimed the students offered the university no option but to bring in the police. That position shows a failure of imagination and leadership the faculty refer to in this letter, as well as a gross violation of the university’s mission to provide for free and open inquiry.

    Holly Middleton
    High Point University

  91. Not only must Katehi be dismissed immedicately but each of the psychologically deranged police officers who participated in this barbaric display as well.

  92. Absolutely unacceptable police and university administrator behavior. I await Katehi’s Monday explanation of why she made the decisions that led to this incident; unless the explanation includes extraordinary information, she should resign.

    UC Davis ’82 ’84
    UCLA ’88

  93. I support the calls for the resignation of Katehi and Spicuzza, but is it unthinkable to suggest that this is an insufficient remedy for these completely unnecessary assaults on peaceful students? Clearly, Lt. Pike (among other police officers) should be subject to prosecution and imprisonment for his illegal and immoral actions, but why not Pike’s bosses as well? At the very least, civil suits should be filed as soon as possible against all three — if only to discourage this kind of violent overreaction by police elsewhere.

  94. Oh, never mind. I guess they have enough loopholes in logic.

    1. Students sign away their right to be on campus, making their presence only welcome at the behest of the administration.

    2. Americans have signed away all their rights to the police to do whatever they like to us with our full support, in the pursuit of phantom evils. So, standing around constitutes criminal behaviour, and sitting on the ground is an agreeable position for being non-lethally attacked.

    Well, it felt like a nice crusade but if you can’t prosecute, there’s nothing you really can do. I can’t even build a line of argument that would force a justice to find the officer guilty, because you can use sprays as a suppressant against criminal activity, and resisting arrest is considered criminal activity.

    And I can’t build a line of argument that would force a justice to find Linda Katehi guilty, because unlike as I was wrongly led to believe, Linda Katehi didn’t place the call for the police to break up Occupy Cal. So she actually did *not* have prior experience. How am I supposed to effectively argue that she knew for certain that the police would respond brutally?

    I’d like to know. I wish you the best of luck in everything you’re doing.

  95. The reason I ask where Obama is this–a militarized police force coming as if to war not just at UC Davis but all over the country. It’s both a provocative and an intimidating tactic that’s exacerbated numerous of these protests. The reaction of policemen/women in most cases are probably within reason but still we’ve seen an Iraqi veteran shot point blank in the head with a teargas canister, we’ve seen journalists arrested and/or not allowed to cover these protests–in the case of the right wing Daily Caller journalist Michelle Fields–thrown against a parked taxi and then knocked down to the pavement. The UC Davis episode though is particularly egregious and I find the rationale that a sitting person who has locked arms with other sitting persons as being violent or a health and safety problem or even that the heavily armored police should be fearful of them to be absolutely absurd. There is no rationale worth debating here. Lt. Pike’s actions worthy of a Nazi extermination camp thug. Personally I would hope that if I had been one of those cops at UCD that at the least I would have have dropped any weapon in my possession and my helmet on the ground and walked away–job or no job.

    I’d ask Barack this–when are we going to come out of hiding?–I would hope before someone gets killed which almost happened to that Iraqi vet in Oakland. This riot squad mentality–the beatings, macings, pepper sprayings–the use of teargas and rubber bullets?–WTF!–is anyone in charge? I voted for Obama–and I’m sure most of those protesting for Occupy did as well. Ignoring this is not going to make things better–it’s going to make them worse. He needs to step up and show some leadership–get the police under control.

  96. Thank you so much. This courageous stance has boosted our movement greatly. Students are feeling amazingly supported by faculty.

  97. As a 30 plus year resident of Davis, a UC Davis alumni, a parent of a UC Davis graduate, and a local elementary school teacher, I was appalled by the police action against peaceful student protestors. It is hard for me to fathom this happening in Davis. I support calls for the resignations of Spicuzza and Katehi.

  98. That Katehi should go is not even a question in my mind; she has very clearly been negligent in her duties. My question is why is no one addressing the UC Regents about this horrific incident? Katehi was hired in 2009 by the Regents even though she was immersed in a scandel at the University of Illinois; I wondered at that time why the Regents didn’t rescind their employment offer.
    Now, rather than calming an issue with protesting students, she escalated it through police force, resulting in physical harm to the students she was hired to protect.
    I have to wonder if this was done at the direction of the Regents. It seems strange that so soon after the incident at UC Berkeley, another UC Chancellor acted with force against the students. Were President Yudof and the Regents consulted before these actions?
    I don’t want Katehi to resign. I want the Regents of the University of California to take a stand against this kind of brutality against our young people and fire Katehi for her actions.
    Are we really going to wait for these incidents to escalate, on both sides, until we have another Kent State?

  99. Davis Faculty, thank you for your courageous stand after this appalling event. Please know that faculty and students around the country are with you.

    Jennifer Michael
    Professor of English
    University of the South
    Sewanee, Tennessee

  100. The demands for resignations should be accompanied by stiff jail sentences for the protestors who did not obey a lawful command, fair right? If you think not your view of righteous is askew, we should not be allowed to break the law to voice our opinions, that “exception” has failure and lawlessness written all over it.

  101. Peaceful protests failed@kimberly?
    Tell that to Mlk…who was shot by the CIA after he criticized US imperialism. Oh it works and those in power armed by their pigs in the name of law and order will only tolerate so much. I commend ucdavis and their faculty. I can only hope occupy and the uglyness it reveals behind the state and its one percent backers have some weight later in the elections. Obama has lost my vote with every wall streeter he puts in his administration.

  102. “The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.”

    It’s the FIRST one, friends. Numero UNO. The Big Kahuna.

  103. I am shocked and disappointed that this has happened, I can only hope that appropriate justice will be meted out to the offending officers.

    Jason Howe

  104. I thank the Davis Faculty Association for quickly standing up for what is right, the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi!

  105. Dear Davis Faculty,

    Thank you for this call for the Chancellor’s resignation. I know that demonstrations occurred at Davis in solidarity with those who were violently attacked by police here at Berkeley. I offer my genuine thanks for that solidarity as well.

    Sincerely,
    Jack Jackson
    Ph.D. Candidate, Political Science
    UC Berkeley

  106. Not only must the chancellor be fired, she needs to go without a golden parachute or payoff. Why do those at the top (the 1%) always seem to be rewarded for their incompetence and failures? Meanwhile, the 99% is lucky to get a 2-week severance when their jobs are shipped overseas.

  107. DFA- Thank you for your courage. The sociopathic behavior of the police was sanctioned and established long before this incident. The Chancellor and Police Chief need to go. There needs to be a way for front line police to refuse illegal orders. If possible, prosecute those in control: The Regents. Without consequences, nobody has any reason to change.

    To all UCD students, faculty and Alumns, please continue the movement until there is justice and abuses are no longer tolerated.

    Seems to me more chemical weapons are being used in California than in Iraq during the WAR

    There should be a deck of playing cards with the names, occupations, business connections and faces of those responsible. I wonder who would be the ACE of Spades??

  108. As a UCD alumna (’00,’04), I was horrified to witness such blatant escalation by the campus police force towards peacefully protesting students. I applaud the DFA and endorse their call for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi.

  109. Seriously,

    The cops went too far. But then, so did the demonstrators.

    The students can make their point. They can engage in free speech. But their “right” doesn’t trample the “right” of others. That’s the tricky thing about “rights” and how they actually work.

    Free Speech isn’t the only recognized “right” in those ten amendments. I’d recommend that those reading here take a few minutes and read the Constitution and the Amendments once again.

    The myopic nature of “free speech” rights without the recognition of other “rights” is worse than foolish…it is reckless and feckless.

  110. The video of this assault was shocking, but I’m so impressed by the response of the students at the scene, and by this swift rebuke from the faculty association board. I hope your regents take a simliar stand. What happens at one campus affects all of us.

    Sherry Simpson
    Associate Professor
    Department of Creative Writing and Literary Arts
    University of Alaska Anchorage

  111. Never have I been more outraged than I was when I saw the recent police show of unnecessary force and heinous brutality used against UC Davis students in front of the Memorial Union. Linda Katehi needs to tender her resignation immediately (if not ex post facto) for authorizing this use of force. UCD police chief Annette Spicuzza needs to be fired for her actions and the actions of those officers involved (who should also be fired).

    The entire, sorry, pathetic scene of those UCD police officers, dressed-up like Nazi storm troopers — jack-booted thugs in their bullet proof vests with their rifles, batons, riot helmets and pepper spray guns intentionally causing harm to those students — makes me believe that the entire UCD police department needs to be dismissed and then reconstituted (properly, this time, with much greater over-sight).

    I was a junior at UCD during the 1994 midterm elections — when Republicans took over the House and the Senate and Newt Gingrich became Speaker — the same year that California Proposition 187 — the “Save Our State” initiative — went to the voters in this state to try and establish a state-run citizenship screening system to deny health care, public education and other social services to immigrants who came to this country seeking a better life for themselves. So, I know what it is to protest — and for Linda Katehi to authorize the UCDPD to respond to this pimple-of-a-protest in the manner in which they did fills me with un-utterable loathing.

    UCDPD policy clearly states: “Chemical agents are weapons used to minimize the potential for injury to officers, offenders, or other persons.” It was the police who were the aggressors here — it was the police who inflicted injury to the students — it was the police who were clearly in violation of their own policies.

    For UC Davis to gain national and international attention (on Al Jezeera, no less) is not only shameful, but wholly inexcusable and un-forgivable.

    As an Aggie, I am deeply troubled, saddened and disappointed in the way the university has conducted itself.

    Todd Dwyer Graduated from UC Davis in 1996

  112. CS Professor —

    The first amendment protects some kinds of speech and not others. You aren’t allowed to shout, “Fire!” in a crowded room just to watch people scramble for the exit. Duh.

    The rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights relate to the rights of a citizen with respect to her government. They say nothing about relationships among citizens. What Jane says to Mary doesn’t enter the realm of constitutional rights unless either Jane or Mary are agents of the Federal Government acting in an official capacity.

    The actions of the students on Friday was *CLEARLY* protected speech. The way they were treated was *CLEARLY* punishment, which is specifically forbidden by our constitution without due process, where due process is specifically described as a trial. Police do not have the authority to administer punishment; only courts do.

    The police had many perfectly effective non-violent tools available. For example, they could have given the protesters bottled water, waited for them to have to pee, and then not allowed them back onto the quad. Instead, they chose to punish. This is illegal.

    As for the students, I cannot possibly imagine a way to interpret their actions as impinging on the rights of any person. They were prepared to comply with any request other than being asked to leave, and peaceable assembly is a protected right.

    In what way, exactly, did they “trample on the rights of others?” Refusing to leave a public space on public property is non-compliance with an administrative policy, the lowest-order infraction possible in our society. Violation of someone’s constitutional rights is the highest-order infraction possible in our society. In between, there are local, state and federal criminal infractions and civil complaints.

    You are suggesting a moral equivalence between the lowest-order and highest-order infractions in our society, which suggests to me that you should brush up on your civics.

    — A Microbiology Graduate Student

  113. I am a faculty at Texas A&M and am outraged at the degree of police brutality exhibited in what could be argued are some of the most liberal public university campuses in the nation.

    I fully support the position of the UCD Faculty Association.

    The Chancellor should resign

    Raymundo Arroyave, PhD
    Texas A&M University

  114. In a CNN story today it claimed Chancellor Katehi would not be resigning and called the spraying “chilling” when what is really chilling is that this type of individual would remain in power. Shame. I’m all for forgiveness, but this is not a repentant individual, this is Esau exposed, trying to save face and career at the further expense of the faculty and student body at UC Davis. Shame.

  115. shame, shame, shame on you Ms. Katehi, disgraceful action for the right to peacefully disagree on campus, or anywhere else!!! I request your IMMEDIATE dismissal!!!

  116. This is awful and I am outraged. This should never have happened. I hope that something happens to correct this. Police should not be using such force on anyone under circumstances like this.

    I demand immediate dismissal and for the police to be held responsible!

  117. I want to commend you 9and so many) for standing up for what’s right. I’d also like to suggest a change to the private military/security force used by UC. That’s the problem as much as the choice of chancellor. No free country should have privately funded military/security anywhere … but especially not on college campuses.

  118. My grandfather was a professor at UC Davis between 1940s and 2000s. Although I was brought up and work in the UK, I still have family in the Davis area. I recently saw the news about the pepper spraying incident and was extremely upset.

    My grandfather, and other staff of his era, aimed to make UC Davis an institution where students could be safe and where people could exercise their rights to free speech. It is safe to say that I am extremely upset that all their hard work appears to have been undone. There is nothing that can justify the images that have been captured in recent days.

    I have written to the Chancellor calling on her to resign for the serious breach of trust that has happened under her watch. Whilst she has been in power, the UC Davis name has been tarnished and all the hard work put into the institution by previous generations completely and utterly disrespected. I know, hand on heart, that my grandfather’s and his colleagues would have been disgusted. Meanwhile, students live in fear and their has been trust betrayed. Shame on the Chancellor and the UC Davis campus police.

    Bethan Jones
    Postdoctoral research fellow
    National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
    Southampton
    UK

  119. I would also like to add that, as a fellow academic, I fully support the position of the UCD Faculty Association. Students and staff should NOT be treated in this manner – I am proud of you all for standing up for what you believe in.

  120. Thank you DFA for supporting the students and community members. Every person in America should have the right to a peaceful protest.

  121. Unbelievable! What is next, Marshall Law? I think all responsible for this act should be subjected to the same barbaric treatment. At the very least they all should be relieved a their positions of authority. This shameful act should not go unpunished.

  122. Unbelievable! What is next, Marshall Law? I think all responsible for this act should be subjected to the same barbaric treatment. At the very least they all should be relieved of their positions of authority. This shameful act should not go unpunished.

  123. This attack by the police constitutes an excessive use of force and violation of students’ civil rights. We cannot tolerate an administration that takes this approach to students exercising their civil rights in the interest of building what they view as a just society. Whether their view makes us comfortable or not does not matter. Of all places, the college campus should be the place where learning and exploration are encouraged and guided rather than squelched by an overzealous police force authorized Chancellor Katehi. If the Chancellor cannot create a safe environment for these activities on a college campus then she is not fit for the position and must step down.

  124. As a very strong civil libertarian, who believes the first amendment means what it says, I am totally opposed to the violent suppression of free speech and assembly on the UC Davis Campus; and believe that the removal of the Chancellor Katehi.

  125. UC Davis faculty, thank you for your brave condemnation of the evil within your walls. You have support at institutions of higher learning all over the country and around the world. Katehi, Pike, and all others who condone the despicable behavior that caused physical harm to befall those peaceful students don’t deserve to walk among you courageous people; they deserve authority over no one.

    Craig Miles
    Doctoral Fellow
    The Center for Advanced Computer Studies
    University of Louisiana at Lafayette

    BS, Oregon State University, 2007
    MS, The University of Montana, 2010

  126. I earlier voiced my concern about a lack of means by which to effectively prosecute Lt. John Pike and Chancellor Linda Katehi. Well, perhaps loophole #1 could be closed. From Berekeley’s own “b-safe bulletin” on “mace and pepper spray”, I found a reference to California penal code (California Penal Code Section
    12403.7 (a) (8)), also mentioned in another comment on this page. Maybe it’s a possible reality, after all.

    I should probably voice my solidarity, as I realize this comments page isn’t a “center of operations”, and was originally intended for UC Davis faculty’s purposes.

    Today I read about the history of Berekeley student protests by way of trying to understand who James Rector was and what People’s Park is all about.

    I hope this issue is resolved in a manner that sends a message to the 1%.

    The actions of all the staff and student protestors at the University of California are truly courageous.

  127. Thank you for your call of Katehi’s resignation. Katehi is incompetent not to see the pepper-spray scenario a possible scenario. Such gross negligence is non excusable. Instead of taking responsibility and resign, her statement on 11.19.2011 creating a
    task force is a just a ploy to point fingers to others.

  128. As a current police officer, and proud public servant I am pained to see the honor of my profession destroyed by the actions of thugs and their unquestioning followers. As a public citizen first, and an officer second, I have always held to the conviction that risking my job by refusing to participate in unjust action is not only the right thing to do, but part of the social contract that creates trust and respect between the officer and his community. Any time we the police forget that we are public servants, problems like those seen here tend to result. In the end the result is a breakdown of law and order, where citizens see officers not as a guiding light, and friend, but instead as thugs and megalomaniacs. A sad day to wear the blue uniform that I usually take pride in.

  129. As a current student of the UC system I’m not only ashamed to be a part of it, but I am also disgusted. The actions taken by the officers were wrong in so many ways. Great job on behalf of the students and faculty for not resorting to violence. UCSD supports you!

    James Clark
    University of California, San Diego
    Class of 2013

  130. To deprive our students the right to protest is akin to willfully blinding ourselves. These are the voices of the future, warning us of our failings in keeping this country strong and viable. They are wards of the university and were in exercise of their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. Chancellor Birgenau and Chancellor Kitahi have failed us all and may have violated the civil liberties of these students. They should both resign.

    November 19th should be declared a national Day of Shame, with silent sit-ins reinforcing the First Amendment rights in all college campuses in the U.S.

  131. I pledge not ever to donate to UCD (as an alumnus) unless the current chancellor resigns. Any telephone or mail asking for donations from me will constitute unnecessary harassment until such resignation. Please make a note of this.

  132. Thanks for taking this action. The Chancellor should resign immediately out of consideration for the future of the institution, if not shame. The actions she authorized against peaceful, mindful demonstrators violate everything a university should stand for. If she doesn’t resign, the regents should fire her, or be themselves complicit in the outrage.

    Paul Lyons
    Professor of English
    University of Hawaii

  133. THIS IS A ACT OF TERRORISM AGAINST INNOCENT CITIZENS OF THE U.S.A. THE POLICE & Katehi SHOULD BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW UNDER THE ANTI-TERRORISM ACT. EVERY PERSON THAT WITNESSED THIS SHOULD FEEL THE SAME.

  134. Thank you for having the courage to support the students you teach.

    I am an Instructor at College Of Marin and a student at Sonoma State University, and I disgusted by the treatment of these kids. Education and learning cannot be accomplished in an environment of fear and oppression.

    A peaceful protest needs to be met with respect and dignity. Pepper Spray takes both of those away. The chancellor, and the police officers involved should be fired immediately.

    .

  135. Another one of Spicuzzo’s brilliant statements-
    http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/Channel/Hospital-Security/News/2009/09/25/UC-Davis-Active-Shooter-Drill-Tests-Campus-Officers.aspx

    “…Spicuzzo said feedback about the exercise is still being analyzed, but the department realized the incident commander needed a smart phone rather than a cell phone to send and receive e-mail at the scene.”

    This was in 2009 not 1999. Maybe the officers with the pepper spray didn’t get the text message that the students weren’t posing a threat…

    BTW, why has Katehi not been put on administrative leave? UC Board missing a back bone?

  136. Can anyone explain why, on a college campus, you need a group of police officers dressed like paramilitary units from some banana republic? Yes, I know there has been some violence, some very serious violence on campuses in recent years, but these guys were dressed for war. If you are dressed for war, and then act like a barbaric sociopath, is there some relationship, some sort of self-fulfilling aspect of this?
    As for the video and the faculty response – yes, she has to go to set an example that this behavior cannot/will not be tolerated, and the faculty response was completely appropriate in demanding here resignation. The officer(s) belong in jail with other psychopathic thugs. The chief should resign, especially considering she was “proud” of her officers. How could anyone possibly find pride in an unprovoked, and likely criminal, attack with chemical weaponry on peaceful protesters?
    More broadly, how can we Americans claim the moral high ground in our foreign policy when we treat our population just slightly better than what has happened recently in the middle-east? The First Amendment has limitations, but there was nothing here to justify these actions, and there is a lot here to justify criminal prosecution, and civil lawsuits.

  137. As a UC Davis alum, I am deeply ashamed by the authorized violence committed against peaceful students, a horrific crime that should have never happened at this university. The chancellor should be fired immediately!

    Thank you, UCD Faculty, for standing up at this critical moment. To prevent the declining empire from turning into a fascist state, we have to openly condemn such a blatant violation of human rights and closely scrutinize institutional mechanisms that failed our students in addition to holding the perpetrators responsible.

    Thank you, UCD student protestors, for demonstrating your tremendous courage and humanity in your brave struggles for a better society. I am proud of you!

    Wang Zheng
    Associate Professor of History
    University of Michigan

  138. Together with Chancellor Kathei, UCD Police Chief, Annette Spicuzza has to go to. Besides the deplorable role of the officers directly involved in this incident, orders always come from above. We need a fresh start with people that care about this community and our society.

  139. I am completely disgusted by what I saw the police do to these students. There were Police who were even LAUGHING as the other students were scrambling to find water to help the victims who were pepper sprayed. The police used excessive force on the students to move them.

    I hope for the future of of country that appropriate consequences are given to the authorities involved.

  140. Good for the DFA for taking a strong stance for what is right. I personally am not a supporter of the Occupy movement but I was outraged after watching the videos of this incident. The Chancellor’s total inability to work with students to establish a forum to express their 1st Amendment is the root cause of this situation. Such a flagrant lack of leadership can not be excused; she needs to resign. What I find more disgusting is the textbook example of police brutality going on here. It is the police’s responsibility to protect the safety of the students, and even the most warped misrepresentation of these events could not suggest that responsibility was being fulfilled. Cowards like Lt. John Pike give a bad rep to police everywhere, and that’s a shame. He belongs in jail, and I hope that’s where he ends up.

    -University of Virginia student

  141. So, “the safety and health of the students involved in the protest” is better served by pepper spray than spending the night in a tent?

    Kathei’s orders landed students in the hospital
    (some may suffer life-long permanent damage – http://boingboing.net/2011/11/20/ucdeyetwitness.html)
    with problems like asthma attacks and military grade mace in people’s lungs, it’s incredible that her orders didn’t kill anyone.

    Resignation is pretty mild, let’s talk criminal charges. (At least in prison she won’t have to worry about pepper spray because mace is never used on non-violent prisoners.)

  142. Chancellor Katehi must resign. Her failure here shows that she is completely unqualified for any position of leadership.

  143. Please add my name to the list of those people who support the DFA Board’s call for Chancellor Katehi’s resignation.

  144. Wow the silent ‘Walk of Shame’ video was a very powerful statement.

    The sounds of only footsteps…
    Likely the longest 120 seconds of her life.

  145. Those calling for swift and decisive prosecution in this matter are referring those involved over to the bloated, retributive criminal justice system, which is surely akin to lining them up for repeated, extensive pepper spraying and worse. This facile employment of such a grotesque system and edifice is indicative of the ground that is not being covered by the concerns of this movement. The capitalizing on features of this complex and mitigated event itself is another form of capitalism that is of a piece, ultimately, with what is being protested.

  146. Is the role of the police to protect the government from the people or the people from the government. Would like to see whose side the cops are on when the overly excessive pensions they have are eaten by Wall Street. How is it that the least educated and violet sector of society (police) are there to supress the most intelligent sector.

  147. As a parent of a new U.C. Davis student, I was horrified to receive the emailed link from my daughter on Friday of the police brutality that occured on campus. After viewing the video, I caught my breath and deeply saddened, sat down to write this intelligent, idealistic and now very shaken young woman, a letter that I hoped would somehow transform this inexcusable act of unwarranted violence into a teachable moment. I was cognizant of how important the moment was, both on a deeply personal and individual level for her and also in terms of her understanding of her place in the world -and I did not want her to miss that fact. I told her of my memories of watching Kent State on the news and of the Vietnam protests that took place on campuses across this country and how tense we were, as a nation, during the upheavel and painful growth of those years. I tried to address her confusion as well as that of her her frightened and angered dormmates whom were also posing urgent questions about the eruption of violence from the police in riot gear. I apologized to her for this sudden baptism into an ugly “real world”, and the loss of a sense of safety in her new home; her college campus. And, I wrote that I was simultaneously sad and oddly grateful that this too is to be part of her education; that learning the lessons of power-used-badly, as evidenced by Chancellor Katehi and the U.C. Davis Police Department, lessons of survival for stepping beyond what was to have been a safe haven where our young adults can find their voices as they find themselves, were, on Friday, given to them “at home”… -I am asking for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi as well as the firing of the U.C. Davis Chief of Police and the officers whom exercised this highly unwarranted display of violence against our students and children.

  148. I am an assistant professor at the University of Western Australia with a BS, MS, and a Ph.D from UC Davis. I am saddened and outraged by the unnecessary violence clearly visible in the video of pepper spraying. I applaud the UCDFA for taking a stand against a chancellor who would allow such a thing to happen. Anyone seeing how the police were dressed and armed would know that they were primed for force. Is this really how the UCD police now conduct themselves? How very sad. The young students showed more awareness and self discipline than their chancellor or the police.

  149. Fire Katehi now. She authorized this and is bow in full damage control trying to preserve her cushy job. Please, no golden parachute or perks. Just fire her!

    The cops who used the spray should be fired, no more evidence needed.

  150. Fire Katehi now. She authorized this and is bow in full damage control trying to preserve her cushy job. Please, no golden parachute or perks. Just fire her!

    The cops who used the spray should be fired, no more evidence needed.

  151. That force of this magnitude could be authorized by Chancellor Katehi against completely peaceful students and faculty at an institution of higher learning runs contrary to the principles of the pursuits of intellectual freedom that the University is supposed to promote.

    I applaud the call by the Faculty Association for the Chancellor’s immediate resignation. Remove this ghastly blemish from the now internationally tarnished reputation of UC Davis.

  152. Many of the UCD Alumni have also called for Chancellor Katehi’s resignation. Here is a extract of my email to the Development Office:

    “Yesterday, I signed an on-line petition calling for the resignation of Chancellor Katehi in the wake of her mishandling of student protests. Here is the link to the petition:

    http://www.change.org/petitions/police-pepper-spray-peaceful-uc-davis-students-ask-chancellor-katehi-to-resign

    Like many other alumni, I am appalled by the “pepper spray incident” and feel that Chancellor Katehi has demonstrated a total lack of effective leadership and no longer has any credibility as a chancellor.

    I will not be donating to any UCD fund raising efforts until Chancellor Katehi has resigned.”

    (B.A ’71, M.A.’73, retired state employee, retired military veteran)

  153. Here’s the letter we sent yesterday calling for Chancellor Katehi’s resignation for Violation of UCD Office of Ethics’ University Policy Office, Policies Applying to Campus Activities, Organizations and Students Sec. 30.00 POLICY ON SPEECH AND ADVOCACY:

    Dear Chancellor Katehi,

    As a 1983 graduate of UC Davis, (Philosophy and English), and 1982 graduate of UC Davis (American Studies), and a member of the Aluni Association, my wife and I have never been more proud and more disgusted with our alma mater ¬— Proud of the passion and restraint shown by student demonstrators and onlookers this past Friday, disgusted with the actions of the campus police and administration.
    Complete, unabridged video of the incident shows a small group of peaceful, restrained, passionate protestors with their arms linked, and a large a group of unthreatening onlookers, bearing witness to the shocking display of police disregard for the rights of the demonstrating students.
    One of your responsibilities as Chancellor is to assure ongoing opportunity for expression. (Section 30, Policy on Speech and Advocacy, attached below) You have shown a complete disregard for this official UC Davis policy. We call for your resignation as a result.
    Although The Principles of Community from the UC Davis website are identified as not official UC Davis policy, they have surely also been violated by last week’s actions by the police and administration.
    As the protesters so eloquently chanted on Friday “Shame on you”.

    Sincerely,
    (and in solidarity with the student demonstrators)

    John Robertson, Attorney at Law
    Valerie Robertson, Public School Teacher
    Tracy, CA

    From the UC Davis website:

    The Principles of Community
    “The University of California, Davis, is first and foremost an institution of learning and teaching, committed to serving the needs of society. Our campus community reflects and is a part of a society comprising all races, creeds and social circumstances. The successful conduct of the university’s affairs requires that every member of the university community acknowledge and practice the following basic principles:
    • We affirm the inherent dignity in all of us, and we strive to maintain a climate of justice marked by respect for each other. We acknowledge that our society carries within it historical and deep-rooted misunderstandings and biases, and therefore we will endeavor to foster mutual understanding among the many parts of our whole.
    • We affirm the right of freedom of expression within our community and affirm our commitment to the highest standards of civility and decency towards all. We recognize the right of every individual to think and speak as dictated by personal belief, to express any idea, and to disagree with or counter another’s point of view, limited only by university regulations governing time, place and manner. We promote open expression of our individuality and our diversity within the bounds of courtesy, sensitivity and respect.
    • We confront and reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, status within or outside the university, or any of the other differences among people which have been excuses for misunderstanding, dissension or hatred. We recognize and cherish the richness contributed to our lives by our diversity. We take pride in our various achievements, and we celebrate our differences.
    • We recognize that each of us has an obligation to the community of which we have chosen to be a part. We will strive to build a true community of spirit and purpose based on mutual respect and caring.”

    The Principles of Community are not official University of California, Davis policy; nor do they replace existing policies, procedures or codes of conduct.

    But this is the official University of California, Davis:

    30.00 POLICY ON SPEECH AND ADVOCACY
    (Revised July 28, 2004)
    30.10
    The University is committed to assuring that all persons may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech, assembly, and worship.
    30.20
    It is the responsibility of the Chancellor to assure an ongoing opportunity for the expression of a variety of viewpoints.
    30.30
    The time, place, and manner of exercising the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech, assembly, and worship are subject to campus regulations that shall provide for non-interference with University functions and reasonable protection to persons against practices that would make them involuntary audiences or place them in reasonable fear, as determined by the University, for their personal safety.
    30.40
    The University recognizes, supports, and shall not abridge the constitutional rights of faculty, students, or staff to participate, either as individuals or as members of a group, in the political process of supporting candidates for public office or any other political activity.

  154. Pepper Spray Deaths

    “The Los Angeles Times has reported at least 61 deaths associated with police use of pepper spray since 1990 in the USA.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_spray

    It seems that the chancellor is not aware that pepper spray can be fatal. Pepper spray causes severe inflammation, and one’s respiratory system can swell and close off breathing. If any of the peppered students had been allergic, or simply had a bad reaction, the consequences could have been deadly.

    Do we really want to wait for a fatality, before something is done about the excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators?

    Kudos to the David Faculty Association.

  155. Thank you not only for calling for her resignation, but taking steps to ensure that this does not happen again. I applaud the new policy proposed.

    Your students made us proud all across America for remaining peaceful during such a horrible moment. I’m very proud of each and every one of them, and wish to let them know that.

  156. Paterno did not want to resign. He wanted to finish the season. He told the Trustee had better things to do than talk about him.

    Well, he resigned.

    Will Katehi’s fate be similar? UCD needs me. I will not resign. We have better things to do.

    Well, what is going to happen? Inquiring minds want to know.

  157. I am OUTRAGED that this brzenly incompetent moran, Linda Katehi, will not step down!!! Obviously she does not want to lose her prestigous position NOR her paycheck. But she is out of touch and a total IDIOT!!
    STEP DOWN YOU FACIST PIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  158. I an an alumnus of UC Berkeley and I feel the outraged anger and disgrace of being affiliated with this university!!
    This imcompetant moron, CHANCELLOR KATEHI, NEEDS TO STEP DOWN IMMEDIATELY. UC CAMPUS PRESIDENT MARK UDOF NEEDS TO FIRE HER IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    She knew what went on and I would not be suprised if she did not authorize this extreme dictatorial call!! We are no better than any “third world” country we criticize for violation of human rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  159. We have become a society where we hire and utilize sociopaths to become police officers. How are we then different from Hitler’s Gestapo? We have militarized our civilian police force and these police forces are in the business of attacking the civilian population even in the cases of peaceful non-violent protests, which are a reasonable, essential ingredient of any democracy. “Anyone who is against the status quo is a criminal” is not healthy for a democracy.

    Let us “de-arm” the police and use SWAT teams only when needed, both on campuses and in society at large.

  160. I am astonished and appalled at the villainous behavior demonstrated by the campus police at a peaceful demonstration on the UC Davis campus a few days ago. Will someone please get a copy of the Constitution, specifically, the Bill of Rights for the UC Davis Chancellor, the Chief of Police, and one each for all the individual officers on the force. Maybe someone could oblige them by highlighting the applicable items for Chancellor Katehi and Chief of Police Spicuzza. These people are dangerous to Jefferson’s concept of Pursuit of Happiness.

    Some Continuing Education for all levels of law enforcement on the subject of our citizen’s civil and legal rights is long overdue. As a medical professional, I am required to maintain my cutting edge for the benefit of my patients. The problem is that the police have been investing in nasty weapons and equipment with which to brutally suppress dissent rather than learning a humane approach to unarmed, seated protestors.

    It is high time for a few resignations (firings if resignations aren’t forthcoming) in the interest of restoring perspective and harmony to the campus.

  161. Jim Speth, please stop with the Nazi comparisons. You sound like an idiot. Do you honestly compare millions killed with the non-lethal use of pepper spray against a dozen kids who happen to be breaking the law. People should watch the whole video before passing judgment, every protester was individually warned before anything was done.

  162. I went to UCSB. I will never give money to the UC system again so long as Katehis is still hired.

    Fire her immediately.

  163. I graduated from UC Davis. I remember that pavement! WHAT THE ____ IS GOING ON HERE?????

    There’s a LAWN right next to these students…..anyone can walk around them…..they weren’t even in front of a building!

    MAJOR AUTHORITARIAN REACTION FROM KATECHI. YOU DON’T BELONG AT UCD. Go to some military school. UCD is about THINKING and being RESPONSIBLE. NOT COMPLIANCE.

    OUT! NOW!

    NO MORE MONEY GOING TO UCD UNTIL KATECHI IS GONE!

  164. Chancellor Katehi, you do not understand the culture of UC Davis and do not respect the students who pay your salary through their tutition. You should go; you have lost the confidence of those who you are supposed to serve.

  165. The comments defending the actions of these police officers simply boggles my mind. How twisted in the head must you be to think that these officers had ANY right to use pepper spray on students who were in no way posing a physical threat to them. It’s like looking at the sky and trying to convince me it’s green. Sadly I think the fact that people proudly encourage this abuse in the comments below shows how quickly the American psyche is deteriorating.

  166. Mike – my sincere apologies. Did not mean to incite. I withdraw my Gestapo remarks unconditionally. These are kids sitting inside a campus protesting about something they feel passionately about. Do you sincerely believe that this warrants pouring a 1M Scoville pepper-spray in their eyes. If it were your child, would you still defend the cops? If they have broken the “law”, they deserve to be arrested, not punished without a trial by pouring liquid chili powder into their eyes. That is what we expect dictatorial regimes to do. This is our America?

  167. This chancellor cannot function without the cooperation of her faculty. She’s already demonstrated that she is way more concerned about herself and how she appears to the powers that be than she is to her students or the university. You don’t need 30 days to “investigate” the obvious. She shoudl resign; the police chief should be fired; Officer Pike should be fired. Anything less will appear a whitewash of wrongdoing. I see where this faculty association represents only 100 of the 1500 faculty on campus? d like to know where to communicate to the rest how this looks from the outside. So far, it looks pretty rotten. Faculty have real power to change that perception, but the longer they delay, the worse for this institution.

  168. Under the law, the police claim they were threatened when the students “surrounded” them. “Officer safety” is more important to police officers than public safety, because as any officer will tell you, if she is injured or killed, in that case she cannot assist or defend the members of the public. So it is paramount to police to protect themselves first and foremost. Still with me? So the students are now “assaulting” the police present, by “actively resisting” police orders to disperse. From the police standpoint, this is the same as an officer ordering a man pointing a handgun at the officer to “drop the weapon.” If the man pointing the handgun does not drop the weapon, the officer is justified in firing projectiles into the man’s body until the man is “no longer a threat” to the officer. This may all sound like police jargon or gobbledegook, but this is the way police think. The students were, if you listen to police experts, lucky they were not shot down or arrested for “attempted murder of law enforcement officers.” To seasoned criminal defense attorneys or academic criminologists, this stuff is routine and passe. Read up on policing, the laws governing compliance with police orders, and the paranoia felt by police. Police are killed every week in America, so there is some merit to their fears. This is a complex issue, with no easy answers.

  169. West Vogel,

    There is a big difference between a man pointing a handgun at an officer, refusing to put it down, and students sitting down refusing to disperse. Anyone looking at the video can tell you the officers are not concerned for their own safety. In fact, I think it’s the casual manner in which the officer pepper sprays the students that has everyone so outraged. Some people are out to harm police, but these students do not fall into that category. Assuming everyone that disobeys orders is trying to harm you and retaliating forcefully may be legal, but not the right thing to do. I agree with you that the police are probably in the clear legally here; in my opinion that’s a flaw of the system. If there were any violent acts, any threats of violence, any thrown punches or weapons or people touching officers, it would be way different. But playing the “acting in the best interest of our safety” card here is a stretch. In my opinion its a shame the power hungry officers involved aren’t going to jail. I don’t ever want an officer like that in charge of my safety. Police are supposed to be your friend.

  170. Every moment Chancellor Katehi remains in her position is another moment this crime goes unpunished. The choice to remain as Chancellor is not hers to make. Relieve her of her job immediately. The same goes for Officer Pike. Remove him from duty without pay,and prosecute him like any other criminal. Anything less reeks of complicity. This stops here. This stops now.

  171. As a former California Correctional Officer I found it shocking that the Chancellor of UC Davis failed to oversee personally the use of force being administered on the protesters who may or may not of been enrolled at UC Davis by the UC Davis Police Department.

    The Chancellor’s own admission of “shock” over the handling of this incident is the strongest indication that the Chancellor had no idea what the UC Davis PD capabilities were and resulted in the protesters being in my opinion needlessly injured.

    The Chandlers failure to take campus security seriously has put the well being of students and members of the public needlessly at risk, As well as highlighting the Chandlers naivete regarding security at best to out and out incompetence at worst.

    I would call on the president of the UC System to take this failure of leadership seriously less it reverberate it’s way to the Governor’s office.

    HR Bob Ross
    Corrections Officer Ret.

  172. Please see:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/us/police-officers-involved-in-pepper-spraying-placed-on-leave.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

    “Mr. Dooley said that he did not expect Ms. Katehi to resign and that President Yudof had confidence that she could move the campus beyond the incident.”

    Thank you faculty for standing up against this outrage, but this is a reflection of how the top people responsible for the UC system feel about the 99%.

  173. Crodocile tears. Esau cried them. OJ cried them. Katehi cried them.

    We have forgotten the role of the educational administrator: to set the tone of admiration that comes with the privilege of the position for the future generations committed to learning under our model for leadership.

    What we all learn in the university experience from Chancellor Katehi’s refusal to resign is that money changes everything, so get it. Pride trumps accountability, so have it. And no matter how much the world hates you for your obvious failure at leadership, wealth and intimate connections will help you retain your dictatorial stance no matter how ugly you look to the rest of the world for the rest of your life. Chalk up academe’s Casey Anthony.

    Learn to be untouchable, because you can get away with it. Spray away, there are no responsibilities, just tears, crocodile tears.

  174. As a UC Davis Alumni I am shocked and outraged by the brutal treatment of peaceful UC Davis student protestors. I am further disgusted by the faux action the university is taking. An “investigation of the incident” is code for “we are going to do nothing now and in the long run.” My faith in what I believed UCD stood for (personal growth and discovery through education and action) has been shaken to the core. Only when the police chief, Chancellor Katehi, and those who carried out the action are fired, will my faith once again be restored. Until that day comes, UCD; do not call for me as an alumni to contribute monetarily to the school.

  175. Thank you for callin for accountability. It is woefully missing in our country now, from Wall Street to City Hall to the Whitehouse.

    It is clear the use of force was beyond what was needed to protect the public. Most, if not all, police agencies have guidelines for using force and especially for randishing or using a weapon (pepper spray is a weapon). In most cases, the guidelines limit the use of force or a weapon to: protecting the public, protecting a person, protecting themselves and possibly to subdue someone resisting arrest. It is clear none of these conditions existed. Not only should Katehi resign for ordering police onto the campus carte blanch, every officer who used a weapon, be it pepper spray or a baton, on peaceful, non-resistant protesters should be severely reprimanded if not dismissed outright.

  176. I’m old enough to remember Kent State I.

    Now I’ve witnessed Kent State II.

    The enemies of free speech and the right of peaceful assembly have no idea what their brutality have unleashed.

    The courageous support of the UC-D faculty is brilliant.

    THEY have the shields, rubber bullets and pepper spray. All WE have are out vastly superior numbers and galvanizing will.

    Let the terrible loss of this child burn into our consciousness.

    Kent State II = UC-D I

  177. Chancellor Katehi must resign immediately or be fired. The police officers involved must resign immediately or be fired. Both must receive a lifetime ban on future involvement with students or minors.

    UC Davis Alumni Association take note:

    1) I will send you no further money until the above requirements are met.

    2) I have already changed my will to ensure that the bequest of my estate to UC Davis that I previously planned, will now not occur until the above requirements are met.

    UC Davis graduate 1978

  178. I am a faculty member at the University of Chicago, and I am stunned and horrified by this act of police brutality against students and faculty peaceably exercising their free speech rights. Thank you for your courageous stand against the bullying and paternalistic actions of your chancellor and her hired thugs. A vibrant and open democracy needs defenders like you. Please know that there are many of us in the academy who stand with you.
    In solidarity,
    Virginia Parks
    Associate Professor
    School of Social Service Administration
    University of Chicago

  179. As a UC Davis professor, I walked through the encampent on the Quad the Friday morning of the pepper spray incident, and was greeted in a civil and cordial manner by the students there. The notion that they posed a health or safety hazard is utterly preposterous. Equally preposterous is the claim that the police, who showed up armed to the teeth in full riot gear, were in any kind of danger. This was unbridled aggression against peaceful students exercising the kind of freedom-of-expression rights that a University, of all places, should wholeheartedly embrace. I attended the rally on the Quad at noon on Monday, and noted the stark contrast between the principled stand of the students against naked aggression, their categorical rejection of phony explanations, and their insistence on seeing justice done, and the craven, shameful, insincere, and self-serving attempts of the administration to save face and deflect blame. The reputation of UC Davis has been irredeemably sullied world-wide. The Chancellor speaks of the need to earn trust and move on. There are some breaches of trust that can never be repaired. The only way for UC Davis to move on is for the Chancellor to resign, and for honest new leadership to begin afresh in restoring the kind of commitment to mutual respect, freedom of self-expression, and focus on scholarship that once prevailed on this campus, but has now become a dim memory.

  180. It’s shocking and disgusting to see a University administration condoning the use of torture on campus. What sort of institution does the University of California want to be, and what sort of society does it see itself as being part of?

  181. That bitch chancellor!!! Speaking English with a heavy accent. Who was so stupid to hire her? She MUST BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!

  182. It’s obvious to me that chancellor Katehi and the two officers who used pepper spray need to be fired/resign. Just look on youtube for videos of the incident. However the remaining cops also failed to protect the students from their fellow officers. Is it not their job to protect the public, even from their own???

  183. Any manager who is so incompetent as to permit a public relations disaster, such as the pepper spraying, should be summarily fired.

  184. http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/contact.php Write Linda Katehi here and remind her we have not forgotten how she endangered the civil liberties, health, and welfare of students entrusted to the university she represents by approving the pepperspray incident. We cannot afford to let this incident be pushed aside and forgotten!

  185. Dear DFA,

    I commend your efforts to remove the Chancellor Katehi and to bring justice upon UCD police force responsible for this appalling brutality against non-violent students. You have my support wholeheartedly.

  186. And I see that this noble Chancellor is still in control and is not resigning! What happened, people? Are all the faculty so afraid for their jobs that they cannot stand up to her? Are the parents PAYING this woman to brutalize their children fine with this?

  187. More recently, Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police deployed violent baton jabs on Cal. students protesting Birgeneau’s doubling of tuition. Tough choices must be made: the sky will not fall when Birgeneau and his $450,000 salary are ousted. Opinions make a difference; email UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
    UC Berkeley (UCB) pulls back access and affordability to instate Californians. Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau displaces Californians qualified for public Cal. with a $50,600 payment from born abroad foreign and out of state affluent students. And, foreign and out of state tuition is subsidized in the guise of diversity while instate tuition/fees are doubled.

    UCB is not increasing enrollment. Birgeneau accepts $50,600 foreign students and displaces qualified instate Californians (When depreciation of Calif. funded assets are included (as they should be), out of state and foreign tuition is more than $100,000 + and does NOT subsidize instate tuition). Going to Cal. is now more expensive than Harvard, Yale. Like Coaches, Chancellors who do not measure-Up must go.

  188. I cannot believe the delay in the report on the attack of unarmed students by poorly trained thugs commanded by Chief Spicuzza. The only way for the U.C.Davis Board of Regents to regain respect and move on is to force the resignation of Chancellor Katehi and her police chief Spicuzza. Being born and raised in Chicago I remember the 1968 Democratic Convention here with all the world watching a poor response to protesters. Remember Chancellor Katehi,” The world is watching.”

  189. And still she sits in charge, even after the investigative task force found that the administration WAS responsible for the police action and force used. What gives, faculty? What gives, parents? Is everyone off pursuing the next big scandal already? Has this been forgotten and swept under the rug like every other example of police state brutality?

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