As chancellor of the University of California, Davis, I was as shocked as anyone by images of student protesters being pepper sprayed on our campus the afternoon of Nov. 18.
Seeing any of our students subjected to such treatment is deeply disturbing. The last thing any of us wanted, most of all me, was for force to be used or arrests to be made in trying to remove an encampment from the campus Quad.
Soon afterward, I apologized to the entire UC Davis community and we asked that criminal charges against those arrested be dropped. We also offered to pay medical expenses for anyone injured by the pepper spray.
Multiple investigations are under way to tell us exactly what went wrong and why. At my request, the UC Office of the President has established a 12-member task force to review the incident; it is being chaired by Cruz Reynoso, a former associate justice of the California Supreme Court and UC Davis professor emeritus of law.
The UC president's office is also leading a systematic examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all 10 UC campuses. It is expected to result in recommended best practices for policing protests across the UC.
We are waiting to learn if the California attorney general's office will also investigate. It has been asked to do so by the Yolo County sheriff's department and district attorney's office.
UC Davis is separately conducting its own internal campus investigation that will help us determine appropriate actions regarding campus police who were involved in the incident. The chief of police and two officers were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this review.
All of our UC campuses, as well as campuses and cities across the nation, have seen growing protests from people frustrated over the economy, rising costs of higher education and related issues reflecting the turbulence of our times.
As I said in a town hall meeting with students in the days following the use of pepper spray, the full picture of what occurred and events leading up to it will emerge through these investigations. I eagerly anticipate the results. I also look forward to potential recommendations on how we can better balance the need to preserve the peace while we also protect the right of dissent.
While we need to let the investigations proceed without interference, I have meanwhile embarked on an extensive listening and outreach effort to begin healing and uniting our campus.
I have held town halls with students, faculty and staff and a forum with graduate and professional school students. I have met with minority student groups, engineering faculty, members of the Academic Senate, and individual students on campus.
I have heard many voices in these meetings, from those expressing anger and sadness about the incident itself to repeated comments that we cannot let one highly regrettable event define a great public research university.
And I have heard an almost unanimous chorus of voices regarding the underlying concerns about the rising cost of higher education that have sparked campus unrest in the first place.
At UC Davis, we have witnessed many protests during the past two and a half years due to our deep state budget cuts and subsequent tuition increases. Since 2009, our state funding has been reduced by 40 percent, forcing the university to initiate major layoffs and increase tuition substantially.
Our students are understandably angry about the rising costs of their education, the increase in loans they will struggle to repay and the lingering economic problems that hit them at home as well as on campus.
I have promised to continue my fight against repeated cuts in state support and the tuition increases that follow. All of us who care about our students and the future competitiveness of California and America should raise our voices. We should advocate more forcefully for reinvestment -- rather than disinvestment -- in our colleges and universities.
We have to recommit ourselves to a level of funding for higher education that meets the needs of deserving students in our state and nation who will require the education we provide to compete in the future.
Outrage over the use of pepper spray and other violent confrontations has generated the biggest headlines and sparked the most anger, with good reason. In the United States, people have a fundamental right to vent their frustration and voice their ideas peacefully without fear of reprisal. So, too, must the rights of the broader community be protected.
We cannot let that keep us from addressing the root cause of so much campus upheaval. As I said during a speech on our campus at the start of the school year, when it comes to constant budget cuts and tuition increases, enough is enough.
But our protesting students need to know they are not doing so in a vacuum. I will continue to advocate as strongly as I can against the dismantling of public higher education in our state and nation. I will continue to work hard to obtain alternate sources of funding to support our students and faculty.
As a community -- whether in California or anywhere else in the nation -- it is our job to ensure a future for our young people that includes accessible and affordable public education.
Anything less, and we will have failed them, and we will have failed ourselves.
First and foremost, you can resign, effective immediately. That is the single best step toward healing the wounds of Davis students, faculty and the public.
So go, go now and leave California, please.
(sorry)
BTW; I'm not sure what injuries can be caused by pepper spray. It is a minor irritant and inflammatory agent. Cold water and air is all that is needed. She NEVER should have offered to pay "medical expenses;" unless it came out of her bloated salary.
There, I've saved them a lot of time and money. Get rid of Katehi.
1) If Govt makes Bankers lend to folks who have no work record or documented income at lower than normal interest rates it is highly unlikely that these will ever be properly paid back.
2) If the Govt stamps "guaranteed by Fannie/Freedie , USA warrants this" on the grouping of these loans and lets them be peddled around the globe, then the USA will end up with egg on its face.
3) If the financial underpinnings of the world are blown apart thru these careless practices would it be prudent to stop the Govt in its tracks?
Answers 1)yes it is unlikely that the loans are any good 2)Barney said all is "a OK, go mind your own business", and then USA did look like an idioto. 3)Even today USA is doing stupid things & no end is in sight!
"There is a season..spin..spin..spin......."
Nice deflection, but no way......
Chancellor, here's a little something I learned in business a few decades ago.
Solve the problem before it becomes a problem. If you don't, chances are it becomes a much bigger emergency...................A simple discussion with your (hopefully soon ex-) police chief explaining in no uncertain terms that "non-lethal" doesn't mean "without harm" and certainly isn't the same as "knock yourselves out with your toys on them". Take all their non-lethal toys away from these goons. Then maybe if their only choice is patience and good judgement or lethal force, they might be able to make the proper decision.
And I appreciate that form letter reply about how you're too busy to answer every email. Perhaps you ought to go back and reconsider, or maybe UC system should consider giving you a lot more time to answer email. My recommendation would be "the rest of your life". Truly disgraceful.
You claim to have been shocked by the images, but YOU ordered police to take down our encampment. You CLAIM to have ordered no force and no arrests, but how naive could you possibly be after seeing the cops beating Berkeley students the week before?
Your "apologies" continue in passive voice only. You claim to take full responsibility yet you say "I'm sorry for what happened" rather than "I'm sorry for WHAT I DID." You continue to shunt blame onto the police. Your investigations hold no water unless YOU are investigated as well.
Your "healing" campaign in which you do "extensive listening" consists of you replying for as long as you wish to people who were lucky enough to draw a lottery to talk for 60 seconds. This is not dialogue.
Finally, the underlying concerns of the protests are NOT solely about state budget cuts. The Regents, Yudof, and yourself continue to blame tuition hikes on state disinvestment. In fact, those cuts amount to no more than 5% of the UC budget. The tuition hikes MORE than compensate for those cuts. Instead, they seem to go to excessive administration and bloated salaries such as yours, since you make almost a half MILLION dollars per year, plus perks.
Most of us can see through your rhetoric, Linda. You are not on our side and you never will be.
""Exhibit A on the latter point is UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, on whose orders the riot police were deployed. Katehi is both a member of the 1% and an overt supporter of police repression on campus. Although she has tried to disavow any responsibility for the pepper spraying of students, it has quickly emerged that she was a co-author of a report used to justify the recent repeal of a 1974 law, banning the police from Greek universities. That law was passed following the overthrow of a military junta. The repeal came just in time, earlier this year, to help suppress Greek protests against the imposition of harsh austerity measures.
As for her economic status, Katehi was hired in 2009 at $400,000 per year plus substantial benefits. That's the same base pay as the American President, and well more than double the pay of California's governor, who makes less than $175,000.""
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111124103714508499.html
""the UC Board of Regents. It's a veritable Who's Who of the 1% in California.""