Occupy Battle Heads to the Courtroom
One of the lesser-known features of the Occupy movement is that attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild have embedded themselves with protesters as observers for the next stage of the fight.
And so, while most of the major encampments have been dispersed by authorities, the battle will live on as a flurry of lawsuits, in which protesters are asserting their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly, and challenging authorities’ mass arrests and use of force to break up tent cities.
It has now been over a month since the initial pepper-spraying incident that caught the attention of the region, the state, the nation and even the world. In the aftermath of that event, the Vanguard joined many others in calling for the chancellor to resign.
I could not believe when I saw the release from UC Davis: “Occupy’s aftermath: 8,500 for cleanup and repair,” my thought was, really? That is what you are going to complain about?
On Monday, UC President Mark Yudof appointed 12 members of the task force that will be headed up by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, a professor emeritus at the UC Davis School of Law.
In yesterday’s column “viewpoints,” I wrote something that I think needs clarification in light of the response to a statement: “Call me a cynic, but I don’t see any way at this point that the findings from an investigation will be such that she has to step down.”
Entomology Professor Walter Leal’s letter, signed by over 206 other professors, backed Chancellor Katehi in the face of strong public and student sentiment that she ought to resign, sentiment bolstered by those such as English Professor Nathan Brown, the English and Physics Departments and the board of the Davis Faculty Association.
