A new defense has emerged of Lt. John Pike, an amateur video which shows the embattled lieutenant warning the protesters that if they do not move, they will be subject to the use of force.
A group of students on this campus decided they had something to say; a message to send on behalf of all the students on this campus; turns out we no longer shoot the messenger we just mace him for the hell of it until all the pepper spray is gone and he coughs blood.
The Investigation: Former LA Chief Bratton Heads Up Investigation
On Tuesday UC President Mark Yudof announced that former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton will undertake an independent fact-finding of the pepper spray incident and report back the results to him within 30 days.
It was not a friendly crowd that faced Chancellor Linda Katehi on Monday afternoon, but they clearly wanted to hear what the chancellor had to say, even as many chanted for her to resign. The crowd listened politely, quickly shouting down those who wished to catcall or heckle the chancellor.
One of the points that defenders of the police here have failed to address is whether or not the actions of the police here are legal, or if they have clearly violated community standards. In so doing, regardless of legality, it means that the community is not willing to accept this type of response from their police and therefore political pressure will force the agency to have to change policies and even dismiss officials.
UC officials, who hoped the matter of pepper spraying students on the Quad of the MU last Friday would simply go away, were treated to a rude awakening as more than 5,000 people – students, staff, faculty and members of the community alike – jammed into the UCD Quad Monday afternoon.
UC Davis has just announced that Police Chief Annette Spicuzza has been placed on administrative leave, pending a review of officers’ use of pepper spray against protesters. UC Davis Lt. Matt Carmichael will serve as interim police chief.
In the immediate wake of the pepper spraying, the initial response from the leadership at UC Davis was actually to defend the actions of the police.
Saturday featured a flurry of activity as UC Davis had to rapidly backtrack in the wake of national and worldwide coverage, from CNN to the New York Times to the Huffington Post to the BBC.
Just when it seemed that the Occupy movement was about to die out, a confrontation that was brewing all week exploded as police officers used pepper spray and other non-lethal means to expel protesters from an encampment on the campus Quad.
Officials report at least ten protesters arrested.
In the world of innovation, I see three possibilities – good ideas, bad ideas, and I don’t get it ideas. In some ways, the UC Davis plan that was unveiled this week fits into all three categories at once.
This week UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi unveiled a major campus initiative that would increase the number of students and faculty by large numbers in the next five years.
On August 20, the Vanguard reported on the continued audacity of the University of California, who announced that week that they will spend approximately 140 million dollars that was raised from increasing student tuition to give merit raises to thousands of faculty members and nonunion employees earning up to 200,000 dollars.
by Eric LeeBART actions to inhibit free speech activity isn’t new to University of California students who earlier this year uncovered internal documents showing officials have conspired to monitor and control constitutionally-protected fee hike protests at UC Davis.
It has been a busy week, but we have to note with stunned amazement the continued audacity of the University of California, who announced this week that they will spend approximately 140 million dollars that was raised from increasing student tuition to give merit raises to thousands of faculty members and nonunion employees earning up to 200,000 dollars.
In a communication that is perhaps a week old, Chancellor Linda Katehi calls it, “Defining the future of UC Davis.” And with talks of “a path to academic excellence” and “a drive for economic growth,” reading between the lines it sounds a lot like a recipe for population growth in Davis.
President Yudof disagrees but vows to improve transparency – A report from the state auditor has criticized the University of California, in part for a lack of transparency in the ability to explain the differences in funding levels per pupil from university to university within the system.
The Regents were quick to blame the latest blow to students on the state’s budget cuts and the budget that Governor Jerry Brown signed last month, which was basically an all-cuts budget due to the fact that the Democrats had to pass the budget with only the support of Democrats, and thus could not raise taxes.
Last week Governor Brown joined a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California’s ban on racial affirmative action in public university admissions.
In his brief, Governor Brown argued that minorities face too high a barrier in efforts to overturn Proposition 209, due to it being part of the state’s constitution.
University Claims This To Be An Old Database From 2003 That They Never Used – The Vanguard, after a series of denials, eventually got the University to admit that a “small” database existed back in 2003 and 2004. It was developed to track activists in 2003 in advance of a US Department of Agriculture Conference that they claimed was likely to be protested by many out of areas activists, some of whom they claimed threatened violence and disorder.
