UC Chancellor Orders Internal Review In Light Of Police Violence

In light of campus police violence against protesters, University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau faces lawsuits, a letter from over 1,700 instructors expressing "No Confidence," and a City Council cutting off support. In response, Birgeneau announced Monday he was ordering an official review of police actions.

On Nov. 9, UC Berkeley students launched Occupy Cal with a day of protest that saw 39 protesters get arrested and multiple videos surface on YouTube of campus police beating students.

Birgeneau said he had not viewed the videos until Sunday, Nov. 13. However, he issued a statement on Nov. 10 in which he said the protesters were "not non-violent."

"Not one video has surfaced showing a student defending himself, throwing a punch, attacking an officer," said Alex Bernard, a UC student who was on the front line of the protests at Berkeley. "The student movement is better able to control the actions of students than the administration is able to control the actions of the campus police. What they're afraid of is their losing in the court of public opinion."

Bernard sustained a broken rib from baton strikes by the UC Berkeley police. He said most of the people there were caught off guard by the extent of the force the campus cops used.

"Yes, there are protests at Cal all the time, but the police response [Nov. 9] was qualitatively different," Bernard said.

Celeste Langan, a tenured English professor who joined the student protesters, described in a blog post her encounter with police when she was arrested:

When the student in front of me was forcibly removed, I held out my wrist and said "Arrest me! Arrest me!" But rather than take my wrist or arm, the police grabbed me by my hair and yanked me forward to the ground, where I was told to lie on my stomach and was handcuffed. The injuries I sustained were relatively minor -- a fat lip, a few scrapes to the back of my palms, a sore scalp -- but also unnecessary and unjustified.

Campus policed have received similar condemnation for student protests over the past two years, including after events only a few months ago. One previous internal review found campus administration and police made serious errors during a November 2009 protest that mounted tensions to "literally dangerous levels."

The UC police chief said he was reviewing the footage as well, but hadn't ruled out using tear gas and pepper spray during future demonstrations.

The Berkeley City Council voted 8 to 0, because of the police violence, to refuse a mutual aid agreement with campus police. Councilmember Kriss Worthington took it a step further by issuing an open letter critical of the UC Berkeley police.

Worthington told HuffPost his biggest complaint was that the students declared beforehand they were not only committed to being non-violent, but also opposed any vandalism.

"It may take a little longer to arrest them than to hit them but it's pretty much what we expect in the United States and in Berkeley," Worthington said.

He further criticized the campus police for not knowing how to handle a protest better, considering the area's long history of demonstrations for various issues.

"If the UC police chief is demonstrating protest fatigue, then he should apply to be moved for a different assignment," Worthington said, adding, "the Berkeley [City] police seem to have learned how to manage protest and crowd control."

UC Berkeley Chief of Police Mitchell J. Celaya III declined The Huffington Post's requests to comment.

Bernard said UC police actions have had a "huge radicalizing effect -- far, far more people are tuned in" after the clashes with protesters. A strike is planned for Tuesday and he said they could gather to restart the encampment this week.

"I was pretty shaken up and I needed time to collect myself," Bernard said. "But I'm going to link arms nonviolently again. What we're doing is right and not going to back down."

 

 

Comments

[Moravecglobal]

11:10 PM on 11/29/2011

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police report to the chancellor and the campus police take direction from the chancellor. University of California (UC) campus chancellors vet their campus police protocols. Birgeneau allowed pepper spray and use of batons to be included in his campus police protocols.

Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police use brutal baton jabs on students protesting increases in tuition. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor Katehi are in dereliction of their duties.

Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor need to quit or be fired for permitting the brutal outrages on students protesting tuition increases.

Opinions? Email the UC Board of Regents [e-mail]

[Moravecglobal]

02:13 AM on 11/28/2011

Brutal baton jabs by UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau campus police. Campus UCPD report to chancellors and take direction from their chancellor. University of California campus chancellors vet their campus police protocols. Chancellors are knowledgeable that pepper spray and use of batons are included in their campus police protocols.

Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police use baton jabs on his students. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor are in dereliction of their duties.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor need to quit or be
fired for permitting the brutal outrages on students protesting tuition increases
and student debt

Opinions? Email the UC Board of Regents [e-mail]

[Moravecglobal]

07:46 PM on 11/26/2011

Campus UCPD report to chancellors and take direction from their chancellor. University of California campus chancellors vet their campus police protocols. Chancellors are knowledgeable that pepper spray and use of batons are included in their campus police protocols.

Chancellor Birgeneau’s campus police use batons on his students. UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor are in dereliction of their duties.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor need to quit or be
fired for permitting the brutal outrages on students protesting tuition increases
and student debt

Opinions? Email the UC Board of Regents [e-mail]

[Moravecglobal]

08:27 PM on 11/25/2011

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau brutality on his students. Campus UCPD report to chancellors and take direction from their chancellor. University of California campus chancellors vet their campus police protocols. Chancellors knowledgeable that pepper spray and use of batons included in their campus police protocols.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor are in dereliction
of their duties.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau and UC Davis Chancellor need to quit or be
fired for permitting the brutal outrages on students protesting tuition increases
and student debt

Opinions? Email the UC Board of Regents [e-mail]

[paulwl]

09:25 AM on 11/16/2011

Mr. & Ms. Police Officer, please be aware that your ill-will( violence & mistreatment) toward your fellow citizens, who means YOU no harm, will play-out the next time(S) one of YOURS has fallen 'in 'the line of duty' or when you need a helping hand, in 'the line of duty' .Then you will wonder why will they not help us; the people we are suppose to serve and protect have turned against us. Yes, it will happen. it has happen before, riots of the 60s, 50s, 40s 30s and 20s! Civil Rights, Labor Rights, Employment /Jobs Opportunities, Religious/Ethnic-Xenophobia and even food/housing riots have pitted so-called law enforcement of the powers-that-be against 'The People' or citizens of the U.S.. Now these young people are gonna be the 'caretakers', taxpayers and 'leaders' of tomorrow and you are treating them( some of them your OWN children) this way?
If I were you, I'd get real paranoid. What do you think will happen once they hook-up with the Tea Party?

[dbrett480]

01:01 AM on 11/16/2011

The UC Chancellor ordered the police to clear the area, is unhappy with how his instructions were followed out, and then lies about it? How much is this knucklehead overpaid by?

[layman]

01:53 PM on 11/15/2011

It's a conspiracy of the campus police and the chief of the university to drive out the 99 % kids from higher education. Institution of higher learning is gonna be exclusively for the kids of the 1 percenters.

This is a caveat of the future of U S higher education, as more local Californians are being pushed out of California Universities in favor of more out of state or foreigns students who can pay the higher and higher tuitions.

[Peter Burgess]

10:51 AM on 11/15/2011

The core of the Occupy Movement is absolutely non-violent. The response by the authorities is being excessively confrontational and physical ... but what is particularly depressing is that the authorities seem to have no intellectual argument to handle any of the issues that the occupy protesters are raising. Leadership is being shown to be rich but intellectually bankrupt!

[sherlockhemlock]

05:49 AM on 11/15/2011

Robert J. Birgeneau needs to resign. Likewise Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer, and Vice Chancellor Harry Le Grande, who also signed on to that hideously self-deluding official statement.

"It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience." The letter goes on to contrast these aggressive and violent students holding hands, with other students who were more cooperativen in allowing themselves to be arrested. The letter goes on to declare "we honor" the second group--such good little protestors!--for their non-violence.

How much more vain can bureaucrats be? I doubt that ANY of the protestors have any desire let alone any need to be "honored" by them.

"Unfortunate"? "This is not non-violent civil disobedience"? Wrong. It is precisely non-violent civil disobedience, confronted with decidedly uncivil brutality. Anyone who cannot comprehend that blatantly obvious fact shouldn't be left in charge of a dog kennel.

[Shawn Longino]

01:24 PM on 11/15/2011

Not to mention that the nice protestors who offered themselves up for arrest got brutalised too.

[Chris Isner]

03:04 AM on 11/15/2011

Those are some tough kids, getting pummeled over and over but standing their ground and forcing the cops to flee. The British Empire learned in India that it is impossible to defeat committed non-violent protesters willing to accept violence done to them. OWS will prevail as long as it doesn't go away.

[wlellis]

02:05 AM on 11/15/2011

I have created a petition on the White House web site, to try to prod the Attorney General to begin an investigation into the police violence against the Occupy protestors in various cities. It needs 25,000 signatures by Nov 27 to be “accepted”. Please click on the link and signal your support. Many thanks!
http://wh.gov/TJt

[mothergrace]

05:48 PM on 11/15/2011

Signed.

[beccainseattle]

09:02 AM on 11/16/2011

I am signed into the website but it will not allow me to add my signature. It says I need to sign in, but when the little pop-up comes, it says sign out or create an account.

Smells fishy.

[wlellis]

10:11 AM on 11/16/2011

I had trouble creating it in the first place - I had to log in and out several times, and even clear my cache. But it finally took. Others trying to sign have had to do the same thing, but eventually got through. Thanks for your persistence!

[Linda Edmondson]

12:49 AM on 11/15/2011

It's been to long between protests. The 60's taught law enforcement how to deal with peaceful protest.
Key is, these are your own people, not foreign savages. Unarmed, peaceful, protesters. Most of the time have a Constitutional right to do what they do. This unnecessary brutality against our own has got to stop. Shame ,Shame .

[OneFish]

11:17 PM on 11/14/2011

Surprise, surprise, the police got violent. That's what they do, that's what they're proud of, that's what they're for. They probably beat up some kids for some really good reasons, like they had a bad day, the wife cut them off, the students insulted them, you know, the sort of reasons that fully justify a beating. Yup, protect and serve, that's their motto. We give the police too much leeway in this society. They want us to trust them? Then they should be above reproach.

[fastronaut]

10:00 PM on 11/14/2011

Even our small occupation (thirty-five campers, plus about sixty who circulate in and out every day) gets harassed by police, despite the support of the Mayor. One guy just loves to come yank our chain, shining his light on us during the GA. We just wave hello. But the aggressor in this situation is obvious.

[Edward Martinez III]

09:36 PM on 11/14/2011

OWS has a perfect openning to change their tactics right now. It makes no sense for them to slog out a winter campaign and risk burning out their people, funds and reasources,,, as importantly their reserves of good will. I want to see OWS change it up and try something different - strike the camps and come up wtih something that will challenge people to participate in personally. Confrontation works against you right now and only serves to confirm what the right are madly trying trying to brand. Take the momentum you have earned this fall and pivot. Do something that surprises them (and us). You can do this..

[Shawn Longino]

01:26 PM on 11/15/2011

what would you suggest? I am asking sincerely, because I got nothing... But sometimes someone else's suggestion will jump start my brain.

[Edward Martinez III]

04:50 PM on 11/15/2011

The criteria defines the action in this case - what does it have to be "to f'ing work". What is the dynamic involved politically (whos spin do I need to worry about the most - and yes you do have to worry about it - because its about winning is it not). And last,,, what resources do I have to get where I want to go. So 1) it has to be spontaneous,fast and mobile. Break away from conflict with the cops and see if you can find a way to reach them,,, for the first time in at least my memory you have the chance to actually get a significant number of them on your side through the Unions - we didnt have that with the Nuke and anti war movent - its an amazing opportunity and you should jump on it big time. 2 ) you are so out gunned by the cops this time that it makes no sense at all to confront it - read Tsun Tzu on the topic it absolutely applies here. end pt #1

[Edward Martinez III]

04:55 PM on 11/15/2011

Begin pt#2 Find a way to spread them out and dilute their forces - spontaneous actions in different locations lends itself to indivbidual groups doing their own ageanda but still working for the whole right - this is actually good clean fun adn wil dirve them bats in the process (what you want right ---- off ballance). You could take flash mobs as a template and tweak it for this case - write up a hand book and get it out to other OWS members (Google Diablo Canyon and see if any of the old handbooks still exist anywyere) they were very effective and drove the constables nuts everywhere we did it. 3) Given that confrontation (with anyone) only helps the ruigth sell its narrative you have to take a closer look at where they themselvwes are vulnerable and use these new tactics you will inevitably find to hammer that soft spot (they are there I assure you). 4) theme and tone - everyone is stressed out and more negative comming out of the movemehnt is not going ot get you anywhere - try humor and embarassment - both still perfectly legal as far as I can tell - adn what I think they are most affraid of right now. Design the small actions with tactics that make fun of them - clear political theater with facts and damning evidence. It worked for GreenPeace for years (my background) and were some of our most effective actions even when they werere