UC Davis chancellor says she won't step down over pepper-spraying
School task force to look into police response to Occupy protesters
msnbc.com
updated 11/19/2011 8:44:20 PM ET 2011-11-20T01:44:20
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45368260/



DAVIS, Calif. — The chancellor of the University of California, Davis on Saturday afternoon called video images of an officer calmly pepper-spraying a line of student protesters a day earlier "chilling" but said she would not step down.

Linda Katehi, who earlier Saturday said in a letter that she was forming a task force to investigate the incident, told an afternoon news conference that what the video shows is "sad and really very inappropriate."

The events surrounding the protest have been hard on her personally, but she had no plans to resign, she said.

"I do not think that I have violated the policies of the institution. I have worked personally very hard to make this campus a safe campus for all," she said.


A UC-Davis professor called for the chancellor to step down, saying she was to blame for police pepper-spraying students during an Occupy protest on campus.

"You are responsible for it because this is what happens when UC Chancellors order police onto our campuses to disperse peaceful protesters through the use of force: students get hurt. Faculty get hurt," Nathan Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of English, wrote in an open letter to Katehi.

He said she was accountable for "the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest."

Brown was referring to an incident Friday in which UC Davis police arrested 10 protesters and pepper-sprayed about a dozen more while trying to clear an Occupy encampment on campus, according to the Davis Enterprise.

The students who were pepper-sprayed were sitting on the ground, arms linked in solidarity. Brown said several of them had to be treated at the hospital.

"You are responsible for the police violence directed against students on the UC Davis quad on November 18, 2011. As I said, I am writing to hold you responsible and to demand your immediate resignation on these grounds," Brown wrote.

Advertise | AdChoicesKatehi did not directly respond to Brown's letter. But in a statement Saturday to the UC Davis campus community, she said she will create a task force of faculty, students and staff to look into Friday's incident.

"Yesterday was not a day that would make anyone on our campus proud; indeed the events of the day need to guide us forward as we try to make our campus a better place of inquiry, debate, and even dissent," she wrote.

Story: Occupy protests spread to college campuses
She noted that a group of protesters stayed overnight Thursday despite repeated notices by university staff that their encampment violated university policies and they were told to disperse.

"On Friday morning, the protesters were provided with a letter explaining university policies and reminding them of the opportunities the university provides for expression. Driven by our concern for the safety and health of the students involved in the protest, as well as other students on our campus, I made the decision not to allow encampments on the Quad during the weekend, when the general campus facilities are locked and the university staff is not widely available to provide support."

She said many students followed orders to dismantle their tents, but others chose not to.

Annette Spicuzza, UC Davis police chief, told the Sacramento Bee that police used the pepper spray after they were surrounded. Protesters were warned repeatedly beforehand that force would be used if they didn't move, she said.

"There was no way out of that circle," Spicuzza said. "They were cutting the officers off from their support. It's a very volatile situation."

Said Katehi in the letter: "The events of this intervention have been videotaped and widely distributed. As indicated in various videos, the police used pepper spray against the students who were blocking the way. The use of pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this," the chancellor wrote.

Katehi said the university is committed to free speech and expression while ensuring the safety of all others.

"Through this letter, I express my sadness for the events of past Friday and my commitment to redouble our efforts to improve our campus and the environment for our students," she said.
Attachments:

I like how these protesters think they can be as aggressive and theatrical as they want, and then play the melodramatic victim when things don't go their way.

i love how u talk shit about ppl who sit there and do nothing while u sit THERE, and do nothing

there isn't any position out there more hated and disrespected than a being a police officer.

I don't really see anything aggressive about sitting on a sidewalk doing nothing. I agree that the protestors' ideology is all fucked up but they've got guts enough to take it on the chin for their stupid beliefs.

The cops are, as always, costumed douchbags. I can't understand why anyone would want to be a cop, unless they are cruel and stupid and get off on bullying the weak and being some politician's bitch.

tomahawk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't understand why anyone would want to be a
> cop, unless they are cruel and stupid and get off
> on bullying the weak and being some politician's
> bitch.




Because the only thing police do is write speeding tickets and push around protesters. I guess in your world there are no such things as rapists, muggers, molesters, and drug dealers.

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tomahawk Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I can't understand why anyone would want to be
> a
> > cop, unless they are cruel and stupid and get
> off
> > on bullying the weak and being some
> politician's
> > bitch.
>
>
>
>
> Because the only thing police do is write speeding
> tickets and push around protesters. I guess in
> your world there are no such things as rapists,
> muggers, molesters, and drug dealers.


You forgot to add deviant sociopathic stalkers, or yourself, to the list, eesh.

This is terrible!

Fuck those rich kids. I doubt they have ever had a job or even looked for a job. They have no idea what they are protesting. Liberal retards full of piss and vinegar but no wisdom.

eesh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Because the only thing police do is write speeding
> tickets and push around protesters. I guess in
> your world there are no such things as rapists,
> muggers, molesters, and drug dealers.

Next time you are being mugged or raped, or being forced to buy drugs by an evil drug dealer, look around and tell me how many cops you see. Tell the mugger to wait while you take a moment and dial 911 on your cellphone. I'm sure he'll stand there and wait for your cops to show up to help you.

Cops are useful only for investigating crimes after the fact. The better cops are quite good at that sort of thing. When cops are sent to do anything else, they often can't resist using their position of authority to satisfy personal desires to bully people who are at a disadvantage because they don't have a whole police force and legal establishment to back them up if they fight back.

In the case of the protesters, they didn't even try to fight back. They were passive. And the cops used a chemical agent on them that is really only supposed to be used on people who are acting violent. The the cops stood there and laughed about it, because for them, treating non-cops like shit is funny.

Well, those two cops aren't laughing now: http://abcnews.go.com/US/occupy-uc-davis-pepper-spraying-cops-suspended/story?id=14992787

tomahawk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't really see anything aggressive about
> sitting on a sidewalk doing nothing. I agree that
> the protestors' ideology is all fucked up but
> they've got guts enough to take it on the chin for
> their stupid beliefs.
>
> The cops are, as always, costumed douchbags. I
> can't understand why anyone would want to be a
> cop, unless they are cruel and stupid and get off
> on bullying the weak and being some politician's
> bitch.

How many times do you think they were told to leave? After 10 you'd think they knew what was coming. This was nothing but idiots being lame to get their 15 minutes of "fame" - although in their case it was probably not worth it. If someone told me the pepper spray was going to be deployed I have no doubt I would be moving right along - but these folks seem to revere the "lack of common sense" gene. Maybe they should test for that as well as things like cancer and such - it might be a larger indicator of who should have higher insurance rates.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

poopstick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fuck those rich kids. I doubt they have ever had a
> job or even looked for a job. They have no idea
> what they are protesting. Liberal retards full of
> piss and vinegar but no wisdom.

Most kids on their first stint through college really have no clue what life is really about. God forbid they had to get a part-time job to help pay for school - assuming that most of their parents didn't foot the bill, or get a loan to pay for it. They make for a great backdrop in the narrative of how evil the establishment is - but the sad part is the people they are protesting against are mostly MBA grads that went to the same liberal arts colleges they are going to. Maybe they should be teaching social morality in college if they are so bent on making sure folks at the top remember to compensate their peers on the way to the top.

If you can’t model the past, where you know the answer pretty well, how can you model the future? - William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics Princeton University

They're a bunch of rich, white, liberal arts majors. They have never held a job, never paid taxes and never have to worry about their future because their rich parents will be leaving them a nice little nest egg.

UC costs something like $30K a year to attend.

No way I'm listening to a bunch of clueless kids.

Move out of the way next time!

So I read that one of the officers and the UC Davis police chief have been put on paid administrative leave. The Davis, California prosecutor is also investigating whether or not excessive force was used.

That is ridiculous, those kids ignored a lawful order to disperse and then resisted arrest.

 

Tomahawk, I guess you expect a cop to be around everytime you need one. On average there is one cop for every thousand people so do the math. Of course the cops are mostly reponsive since they cannot be everywhere at once.

Maybe the cops did laugh at them because they never saw such an assortment of idiots who have no idea what goes on in the real world, In a few years when/if these dirtbags graduate their mommies and daddies will find them a job just like they have carried them all through life.

There is more to this than the media is letting on so they can help push this ill conceived agenda of class warfare. If they are told to move and they are breaking the law then maybe the next step is non lethal pepperspray.

I dont know why the average person should walk around these pukes. If they are in my way I am going through them. I dont think there is one in the bunch whose ass I couldnt kick on my worst day.

brady bill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tomahawk, I guess you expect a cop to be around
> everytime you need one. On average there is one
> cop for every thousand people so do the math. Of
> course the cops are mostly reponsive since they
> cannot be everywhere at once.
>
> Maybe the cops did laugh at them because they
> never saw such an assortment of idiots who have no
> idea what goes on in the real world, In a few
> years when/if these dirtbags graduate their
> mommies and daddies will find them a job just like
> they have carried them all through life.
>
> There is more to this than the media is letting on
> so they can help push this ill conceived agenda of
> class warfare. If they are told to move and they
> are breaking the law then maybe the next step is
> non lethal pepperspray.
>
> I dont know why the average person should walk
> around these pukes. If they are in my way I am
> going through them. I dont think there is one in
> the bunch whose ass I couldnt kick on my worst
> day.



Are you going to shoot them if they sit in your way tough guy?

 

No I think just a simple look would frighten their candy asses back to the frat house much in the same way it would do to you

brady bill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No I think just a simple look would frighten their
> candy asses back to the frat house much in the
> same way it would do to you

Looking at that video, they weren't afraid of a bunch of armed cops; I really don't think they'd be afraid of a mom's-basement-dwelling internet tough guy like you, chief.

They were protesting tuition increases.

At least, they're taking action against what many view as continual gouging of the public by the university systems. They're being criticized by many of the same people who have stated the same opinion, but rather sit on their fat asses.

tomahawk Wrote:
> Looking at that video, they weren't afraid of a
> bunch of armed cops; I really don't think they'd
> be afraid of a mom's-basement-dwelling internet
> tough guy like you, chief.


Thats just it they dont fear the cops because the cops have to be restrained by rules. If they block my way I dont have a supervisor or some pussy like you telling me to go around. The problem is guys like you give in to these candy ass college pukes and each time they push the envelope just a little further. I do not fear exercising my rights to free passage but it appears you do.

You would be surprised in life what happens when you stand up to people but why waste my breath on a wimp like you. This reach across the aisle crap got us where we are today. Try being a man for once and see how much better you feel about yourself.

brady bill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thats just it they dont fear the cops because the
> cops have to be restrained by rules. If they block
> my way I dont have a supervisor or some pussy like
> you telling me to go around. The problem is guys
> like you give in to these candy ass college pukes
> and each time they push the envelope just a little
> further. I do not fear exercising my rights to
> free passage but it appears you do.
>
> You would be surprised in life what happens when
> you stand up to people but why waste my breath on
> a wimp like you. This reach across the aisle crap
> got us where we are today. Try being a man for
> once and see how much better you feel about
> yourself.

LOL the internet

Sadly people like you are the problem here. Instead of exercising your rights you bow out to others. Yet you give yourself a name like Tomahwwk I guess to project an image of a tough guy. Yet when a few college wimps sit down in front of you the only thing you can think of is oh my I better walk around them.

I imagine you to be the same kind of guy who when confronted by a criminal will just "give him what he wants" in hopes he will not harm you further.

HAHAHAHAHA. But just imagine what police used to do to black people just 50 years ago (as if it doesn't still happen). If black people tried to sit in, they probably sent the dogs in, flooded the restaraunt, then dropped sharks into the place. This is why the police suck.

On a side note, if I got pepper sprayed, I'm shooting that bitch up. That's disrespectful.

brady bill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sadly people like you are the problem here.
> Instead of exercising your rights you bow out to
> others. Yet you give yourself a name like Tomahwwk
> I guess to project an image of a tough guy. Yet
> when a few college wimps sit down in front of you
> the only thing you can think of is oh my I better
> walk around them.
>
> I imagine you to be the same kind of guy who when
> confronted by a criminal will just "give him what
> he wants" in hopes he will not harm you further.

Please don't hurt me. I'm afraid of you.

The whole thing was staged. The filthy hippies were warned and consented. “You’re shooting us specifically? No that’s fine, that’s fine.”

Okay, UC Davis, don't support your Police force when they trying restore peace and order. If my kids were there, I'd pull them out and find a safe place that appreciates safety, law and order.

I admit I've learned a lot from the Occupy movement. Lesson one, if a cop says move or get gassed, it's a good idea to move.

The rest of the world is laughing at us. This the most pathetic display of violence.

OWS=filthy hippies Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The whole thing was staged. The filthy hippies
> were warned and consented. “You’re shooting us
> specifically? No that’s fine, that’s fine.”
>
> Okay, UC Davis, don't support your Police force
> when they trying restore peace and order. If my
> kids were there, I'd pull them out and find a safe
> place that appreciates safety, law and order.
>
> I admit I've learned a lot from the Occupy
> movement. Lesson one, if a cop says move or get
> gassed, it's a good idea to move.
>
>


The university is backing the students because they are raising tuition a lot and want the students to stay so they can get the money

OWS=filthy hippies Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lesson one, if a cop says move or get
> gassed, it's a good idea to move.
>
>

But you're a tough guy, right? You gonna let 'em boss you around like that? Or do you only pick fights with peaceful protestors?

tomahawk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OWS=filthy hippies Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Lesson one, if a cop says move or get
> > gassed, it's a good idea to move.
> >
> >
>
> But you're a tough guy, right?

Not really. But if the dirty hippies want support they'll need to start protesting the 1%, like Capitol Hill, and quit marching to the Key Bridge, trashing parks, and screwing up our commute.

Oh, and holding up that pot smoking Marine with the bad discharge (Scott Olsen) as an example of veteran support? Bad idea, it just pissed us off all the more.

Here is an example of how we feel about the occu-tards.

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=27595

Go get a job.

OWS=filthy hippies Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tomahawk Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > OWS=filthy hippies Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Lesson one, if a cop says move or get
> > > gassed, it's a good idea to move.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > But you're a tough guy, right?
>
> Not really. But if the dirty hippies want support
> they'll need to start protesting the 1%, like
> Capitol Hill, and quit marching to the Key Bridge,
> trashing parks, and screwing up our commute.
>
> Oh, and holding up that pot smoking Marine with
> the bad discharge (Scott Olsen) as an example of
> veteran support? Bad idea, it just pissed us off
> all the more.
>
> Here is an example of how we feel about the
> occu-tards.
>
> http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=27595
>
> Go get a job.


Totally, man, right there with ya! Next time you see an OWS protestor, you should just walk over to him and kick his ass! Don't be a pussy, just do it!

The pepper sprays benefit is threefold. It acts as a disinfectant, de-lousing agent and anti persperant all in one. It also gets the animals attention.

friskydingo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So I read that one of the officers and the UC
> Davis police chief have been put on paid
> administrative leave. The Davis, California
> prosecutor is also investigating whether or not
> excessive force was used.
>
> That is ridiculous, those kids ignored a lawful
> order to disperse and then resisted arrest.


+1. If these people were sitting next to your doorstep all day and night and you called the cops...you'd expect them to be removed one way or another. The cops are only going to tell you a few times before they up the ante. And rightfully so. Defying a lawful order has a name...resisting. Peaceful or fighting...resistance is resistance.

sasquatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> friskydingo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So I read that one of the officers and the UC
> > Davis police chief have been put on paid
> > administrative leave. The Davis, California
> > prosecutor is also investigating whether or not
> > excessive force was used.
> >
> > That is ridiculous, those kids ignored a lawful
> > order to disperse and then resisted arrest.
>
>
> +1. If these people were sitting next to your
> doorstep all day and night and you called the
> cops...you'd expect them to be removed one way or
> another. The cops are only going to tell you a few
> times before they up the ante. And rightfully so.
> Defying a lawful order has a name...resisting.
> Peaceful or fighting...resistance is resistance.



Take a page outta the Borg play book.

"Resistance is futile"

 

more evidence the filthy hippies encircled cops and instigated the gassing:



oh boo hoo

The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy

The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of our political class's venality
by Naomi Wolf

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/25-7

Why this massive mobilization against these not-yet-fully-articulated, unarmed, inchoate people? After all, protesters against the war in Iraq, Tea Party rallies and others have all proceeded without this coordinated crackdown. Is it really the camping? As I write, two hundred young people, with sleeping bags, suitcases and even folding chairs, are still camping out all night and day outside of NBC on public sidewalks – under the benevolent eye of an NYPD cop – awaiting Saturday Night Live tickets, so surely the camping is not the issue. I was still deeply puzzled as to why OWS, this hapless, hopeful band, would call out a violent federal response.

That is, until I found out what it was that OWS actually wanted.

The mainstream media was declaring continually "OWS has no message". Frustrated, I simply asked them. I began soliciting online "What is it you want?" answers from Occupy. In the first 15 minutes, I received 100 answers. These were truly eye-opening.

The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process. No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.

No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.

When I saw this list – and especially the last agenda item – the scales fell from my eyes. Of course, these unarmed people would be having the shit kicked out of them.

For the terrible insight to take away from news that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated a violent crackdown is that the DHS does not freelance. The DHS cannot say, on its own initiative, "we are going after these scruffy hippies". Rather, DHS is answerable up a chain of command: first, to New York Representative Peter King, head of the House homeland security subcommittee, who naturally is influenced by his fellow congressmen and women's wishes and interests. And the DHS answers directly, above King, to the president (who was conveniently in Australia at the time).

In other words, for the DHS to be on a call with mayors, the logic of its chain of command and accountability implies that congressional overseers, with the blessing of the White House, told the DHS to authorize mayors to order their police forces – pumped up with millions of dollars of hardware and training from the DHS – to make war on peaceful citizens.

But wait: why on earth would Congress advise violent militarized reactions against its own peaceful constituents? The answer is straightforward: in recent years, members of Congress have started entering the system as members of the middle class (or upper middle class) – but they are leaving DC privy to vast personal wealth, as we see from the "scandal" of presidential contender Newt Gingrich's having been paid $1.8m for a few hours' "consulting" to special interests. The inflated fees to lawmakers who turn lobbyists are common knowledge, but the notion that congressmen and women are legislating their own companies' profitsis less widely known – and if the books were to be opened, they would surely reveal corruption on a Wall Street spectrum. Indeed, we do already know that congresspeople are massively profiting from trading on non-public information they have on companies about which they are legislating – a form of insider trading that sent Martha Stewart to jail.

Since Occupy is heavily surveilled and infiltrated, it is likely that the DHS and police informers are aware, before Occupy itself is, what its emerging agenda is going to look like. If legislating away lobbyists' privileges to earn boundless fees once they are close to the legislative process, reforming the banks so they can't suck money out of fake derivatives products, and, most critically, opening the books on a system that allowed members of Congress to profit personally – and immensely – from their own legislation, are two beats away from the grasp of an electorally organized Occupy movement … well, you will call out the troops on stopping that advance.

So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organized suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not.