UC Davis Faculty who support the following petition concerning retroactive legal measures taken against student protesters should forward their name and title to petition@cucfa.org. All supporters of the protestors may be interested in adding your name to the petition at http://davisdozen.org/petition.php.
Petition:
March 21, 2012
Dear Chancellor Katehi and Provost Hexter,
On March 16, The UC Davis Dateline newsletter for faculty and staff announced the closure of the UC Davis branch office of the US Bank and the cancellation by the bank of its contract with the University. The closure of the branch and cancellation of the contract were due to a blockade of the branch office carried out by student and faculty protesters from January through March. It is important to understand the political content of this blockade: the demonstrators continually stated their opposition to the substitution of private contracts for public funding of the UC system, and they continually pointed out conflicts of interest related to University contracts with corporations profiting from student loan interest as the UC administration continues to increase tuition, thus forcing many students to take out increased loans.
We reiterate our support for the principled and determined actions of UC students and faculty to defend the public character of the UC system against privatization, a goal with which the blockade of the US Bank branch was consistent.
The announcement of the bank’s closure in Dateline also included the following two paragraphs:
“As of today (March 16), UC Davis police had forwarded six cases to the Yolo County district attorney’s office, recommending prosecution for violating Penal Code sections that make it a misdemeanor to ‘willfully and maliciously’ obstruct the free movement of any person on any street, sidewalk or other public place, or to intentionally interfere with any lawful business.
“Mike Cabral, assistant chief deputy district attorney, said March 15 that the district attorney’s office had not yet completed its review of the case files—and that a decision on whether to prosecute is likely to come Monday or Tuesday (March 19 or 20). If the decision is made to go forward, the district attorney’s office will notify the suspects by mail, ordering them to appear in court.”
We write in opposition to the UC Davis administration’s decision to have these cases forwarded to the DA by the police, and we ask that the administration recognize the political content of the US Bank blockade rather than treating it as a criminal matter.
Opposition to the use of force against demonstrating students in November 2011 was not only directed against police brutality, but also against the UC Davis administration’s repression of political activism on our campus. We view the use of retroactive legal actions against demonstrating students as an effort to carry out such repression of political activity while attempting to evade the public scrutiny to which the administration’s repressive measures have been subjected. Moreover, in this case these retroactive legal actions clearly target a small sub-group of the demonstrators involved in blockading the bank, suggesting that specific demonstrators are being targeted for selective prosecution so as to single out and intimidate the most active student protesters.
For these reasons, we ask that the administration urge the district attorney’s office, in writing, to exercise its option not to prosecute those cases that have been forwarded in relation to the US Bank blockade, or to reverse the decision to prosecute if it has already been made. Further, we request an end to the use of retroactive legal action as a punitive measure against political protesters on our campus.
Sincerely,
Don Abbott — Professor of English
Sarah Pia Anderson — Professor, Cinema and Technocultural Studies
Josephine Andrews — Associate Professor, Political Science
Ali Anooshahr — Associate Professor, History
Raul Aranovich — Associate Professor of Linguistics
Carlee Arnett — Associate Professor German and Russian
Chris Benner — Associate Professor of Community and Regional Development; Chair, Geography Graduate Group
Mario Biagioli — Distinguished Professor of Science and Technology Studies & Law
Gina Bloom — Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, English, Co-Director of the Mellon Research Initiative in Early Modern Studies
Larry Bogad — Associate Professor, Theater and Dance
John Bowman — Professor, Department of Plant Biology
Anne Britt — Professor, Department of Plant Biology
Kenneth Britten — Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior
Nathan Brown — Assistant Professor of English
Marisol de la Cadena — Professor of Anthropology
Steve Carlip — Professor of Physics
Patrick E. Carroll — Associate Professor of Sociology
Seeta Chaganti — Associate Professor of English
Timothy Choy — Associate Professor of Anthropology
Daniel Cox — Professor of Physics
Maxine Craig — Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies
Natalia Deeb-Sossa — Assistant Professor, Chicana/o Studies
Katayoon (Katie) Dehesh — Professor, Plant Biology; Chair of Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology
Jesse Drew — Associate Professor of Technocultural Studies
Fran Dolan — Professor of English
JoAnne Engebrecht — Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Ian C. Faloona — Associate Professor, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources
Rida Farouki — Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Daniel Ferenc — Professor of Physics
Margaret Ferguson — Distinguished Professor of English
Gail Finney — Professor of Comparative Literature and German
Jaimey Fisher — Assoc. Prof., German and Cinema & Technocultural Studies, Director, Cinema & Technocultural Studies
Yvette G. Flores — Professor, Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
Jeff Fort — Assistant Professor, French
Kathleen Frederickson — Assistant Professor, Department of English
Cristiana Giordano — Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Laura Grindstaff — Professor of Sociology, Director, Consortium for Women and Research
Noah Guynn — Associate Professor of French
Robin Hill — Professor, Department of Art
Wendy Ho — Professor, Dept. of Asian American Studies
Hsuan Hsu — Associate Professor of English
Alan Jackman — Prof Emeritus, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Mark C. Jerng — Associate Professor of English
Suad Joseph — Professor, Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies
Caren Kaplan — Professor, American Studies
George Kaysen — Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
Ian Kennedy — Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Richard S. Kim — Associate Professor, Asian American Studies
Joe Kiskis — Professor of Physics
Neil Larsen — Professor, Department of Comparative Literature
Lyn H Lofland — Research Professor of Sociology
Kari Lokke — Professor of Comparative Literature
Marjorie Longo — Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
William Lucas — Professor of Plant Biology
Markus A. Luty — Professor of Physics
Martha J. Macri — Professor of Native American Studies
Sunaina Maira — Professor, Asian American Studies
Amina Mama — Professor, Women and Gender Studies
James Marcin, MD, MPH — Professor – Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Director, Pediatric Telemedicine
Darrin Martin — Associate Professor of Art Studio
William Mason — Professor Emeritus, Psychology
Bill McCarthy — Professor of Sociology
Sally McKee — Professor of History
Elizabeth Carolyn Miller — Associate Professor of English
Flagg Miller — Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Director of the Graduate Group in Religion and Director of the Middle East / South Asia Program
Susan Miller — Professor of History
E. O. Milton — Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematics
Susette Min — Associate Professor, Asian American Studies
Stephanie Lee Mudge — Assistant Professor of Sociology
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder — Professor of Anthropology
Kimberly Nettles-Barcelon — Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies
Almerindo Ojeda — Professor of Linguistics
Marijane Osborn — Professor Emeritus, English
Bob Ostertag — Professor, Cinema and Technocultural Studies
Ana Peluffo — Associate Professor, Department of Spanish & Portuguese
Noha Radwan — Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
Kriss Ravetto — Associate Professor of Cinema and Technocultural Studies
Marcel Rejmanek — Professor of Evolution and Ecology
Michael Rios — Associate Professor of Environmental Design
Simon Sadler — Professor of Design
Valeria La Saponara — Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Suzana Sawyer — Associate Professor of Anthropology
Richard Scalettar — Professor of Physics
Seth L. Schein — Professor of Comparative Literature
Juliana Schiesari — Chair, Department of Comparative Literature; Professor of French/ Italian and Comparative Literature
Sarita Echavez See — Associate Professor, Department of Asian American Studies
Omnia El Shakry — Associate Professor of History
Jocelyn Sharlet — Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
Scott Shershow — Professor of English; Chair of the Davis Faculty Association
Scott Simmon — Professor and Chair of English
David Simpson — Distinguished Professor of English, G.B. Needham Chair
Bradford Smith — Professor Emeritus, Veterinary Medicine: Medicine and Epidemiology
James Smith — Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Eric Smoodin — Professor, Program in American Studies
Smriti Srinivas — Professor, Anthropology
Daniel A. Starr — Associate Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Alan J. Stemler — Professor Emeritus — Plant Biology Dept.
Blake Stimson — Professor, Cinema and Technocultural Studies Association
Pieter Stroeve — Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Co-Director of the California Solar Energy Collaborative
Dawn Sumner — Professor of Geology
Colleen Sweeney — Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine
Baki Tezcan — Associate Professor of History, and Religious Studies
Steven M. Theg — Professor of Plant Biology
Eddy U — Associate Professor of Sociology
Stefano Varese — Professor Emeritus of Native American Studies
Archana Venkatesan — Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature & Program in Religious Studies
Evan Watkins — Professor of English
Karen Watson-Gegeo — Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture
Tim Weaver — Associate Professor of Anthropology
Joe Wenderoth — Professor of English
Stephen Wheeler — Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Carl Whithaus — Professor, University Writing Program
David Wittman — Associate Professor. Department of Physics
Stefan Wuertz — Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Michael Ziser — Associate Professor, English