Last night, students began pitching more tents on the UC Davis Campus:
Protesters Put Up More Than 60 Tents On UC Davis Quad
They were also visited by Speaker of the Assembly, John Perez:
Perez called the officers' actions Friday "appalling" and said he would work to make sure a similar incident did not happen again.
"Both houses of the legislature are going to be holding hearings. There have been debate as to whether police exceeded their authority. If they did, there needs to be a reaction based on that. If they didn’t, then we have to reevaluate what their authority is because I don’t think any reasonable person would see pepper spraying a group of passive protestors as the right approach in that moment," Perez said.
While the tent pitching was taking place,
members of the UC student government held an emergency meeting to vote on several resolutions. Those resolutions call on changes in policies, additional training of officers, and the resignation of the chancellor if she does not comply with their demands.
Best yet, the largest tent is a huge dome. I can't wait for daylight to see a better picture:
http://twitter.com/...
Meanwhile, over at UC Berkeley, students have been looking for unique and different ways to pitch tents. Earlier this week, they floated tents:
Last night, OccupyCAL again tried something different:
Occupy Cal is taking a different approach. At the so-called mass sleep-out in front of Sproul Hall, protesters decided to ditch the tents, for now.
"It's a chance for everyone in the community to get together without the pressure of having tents. Tents seem to be this sort of lightning rod issue," said protester Eva Hagberg.
Many of you will be happy to hear what these students have to say:
"It's not about the tents for us, right? It's about the cuts in education, the cuts to public space and that are voices aren't being heard," said protester Megan Vrolijk.
"We really have been peaceful throughout this whole thing so a sleep out is a way to take back public space and I guess to a certain extent work around the 'no tents' and 'no encampment' policy," said Ariella Powers.
The Academic Senate at Berkeley is also taking up the cause. They have called a special meeting for Nov. 28 "to discuss and possibly vote on a resolution of no confidence in senior campus administrators in response to their handling of the Occupy Cal movement." They believe the administration "has compromised the climate for free expression."
In the meantime, back at UC Davis, Chancellor Kaheti continues to take 'full responsibility' while laying the blame for the violence firmly at the feet of her police department:
"They were not supposed to use force; it was never called for," she said. "They were not supposed to limit the students from having the rally, from congregating to express their anger and frustration."
Calls for her resignation continue. Recently, the UC Davis English Department website expressed their support for her resignation... the site is currently down but the Davis Enterprise as a screenshot for your enjoyment.
President Yudof has not publicly joined the bandwagon but, unlike Governor Brown, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, and Attorney General Kamala Harris, he has sent out a response to letter writers:
I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.
I intend to do everything in my power as President of this university to protect the rights of our students, faculty and staff to engage in non-violent protest.
Chancellors at the UC Davis and UC Berkeley campuses already have initiated reviews of incidents that occurred on their campuses. I applaud this rapid response and eagerly await the results.
The University of California, however, is a single university with 10 campuses, and the incidents in recent days cry out for a systemwide response.
Therefore I will be taking immediate steps to set that response in motion.
I intend to convene all 10 Chancellors, either in person or by telephone, to engage in a full and unfettered discussion about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest.
To that end, I will be asking the Chancellors to forward to me at once all relevant protocols and policies already in place on their individual campuses, as well as those that apply to the engagement of non-campus police agencies through mutual aid agreements.
Further, I already have taken steps to assemble experts and stake-holders to conduct a thorough, far-reaching and urgent assessment of campus police procedures involving use of force, including post-incident review processes.
My intention is not to micromanage our campus police forces. The sworn officers who serve on our campuses are professionals dedicated to the protection of the UC community.
Nor do I wish to micromanage the chancellors. They are the leaders of our campuses and they have my full trust and confidence.
Nonetheless, the recent incidents make clear the time has come to take strong action to recommit to the ideal of peaceful protest.
As I have said before, free speech is part of the DNA of this university, and non-violent protest has long been central to our history. It is a value we must protect with vigilance. I implore students who wish to demonstrate to do so in a peaceful and lawful fashion. I expect campus authorities to honor that right.
He also included the statement made by Chancellor Katehi and added two UC Davis press releases. In those, we learn that the Chancellor has asked the Yolo County District Attorney's office to investigate the incident. She is also initiating the creation of a task force to conduct a campus review. The review will take 30 days... much better than the original 90 days, but the timing is still poor as the release will come shortly before Christmas while students are on break.
President Yudoff may want to read this article by Time, Pepper Spray Outrage at UC Davis: When Do Police Have the Right to Use ‘Less-Lethal Force’? In it, Geoffrey Alpert, professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina says:
However, the use of less-lethal tactics may sometimes be employed out of order. “It’s so you don’t have to put your hands on someone,” Alpert tells TIME. According to Alpert, who also teaches criminology at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, force with soft and hard hands — essentially pushing and prying people — should come well before the use of less-lethal weapons including pepper spray, tasers and batons.
But what type of situation would spark an escalation in the amount of force needed? “Pepper spray should only be used when there’s a clear threat to officers or severe-enough resistance — essentially, when the only alternative is more extreme force,” says Dr. John MacDonald, professor of criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. “But if the only threat is time, then the best weapon to exercise is patience.”
For those of you who haven't yet written to the Governor, Lt. Governor, or the Attorney General, the Time article provides a talking point you may want to include in your letter:
A spokeswoman for California’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training tells TIME that there’s no statewide policy on the use of pepper spray. It’s up to the individual police departments to determine when the situation calls for its use. But it’s clear that pepper spray should require a high threshold.
Governor Brown remains silent at this moment in time. A spokesperson reminds us that he is on vacation out of state but we don't know where or for how long. We know that governors can make statements to the press while resting and relaxing... especially about such an atrocious incident as this most recent one at UC Davis. He could follow the leadership example set by both Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
I hope that they figure this out soon. Several things are being planned in California.
First, the next day of action for UC Davis is already planned:
Occupy UC Davis Facebook page
Second, Occupy Oakland is calling for a total shutdown of the West Coast ports on 12/12.
Suerte, Governor Brown. At this point, you're going to need it.
For some of the best coverage of happenings at UC Davis, check out the Davis Enterprise. Local coverage is still the best coverage!
And, for those of you have seen Clarknt67's diary on the rec list, I have another work of art to add to the list:
http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com/...
8:06 AM PT: Photo from a comment below by jpmassar - this is an aerial view of UCDavis yesterday afternoon during the rally:
I had tried to add this one earlier and had technical difficulties (I told you I was having a rough day) so I'm glad he posted it with us.
8:12 AM PT: Great comment thread from mahakali overdrive, http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.sfbg.com/...
This whole thing is scorching.
...
Sen. Leland Yee issued a letter to UC president Mark Yudof Nov. 21, calling for an independent investigation into the pepper spray incident rather than a task force handpicked by UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. The Davis chancellor, who has come under intense pressure since the incident as students call for her resignation, previously announced that she would create a committee to look into the matter and report back after 30 days.
"She gave 30 days to report back," noted Adam Keigwin, Yee's chief of staff. "It takes about 30 seconds to realize there's been wrongdoing."
In the letter, Yee expressed concern that "it is important that we do not leave the fox to guard the henhouse." A press statement issued by his office was more direct, noting that Yee "called Katehi’s task force a sham."
...
and
Yee is also urging students & faculty contact him (0+ / 0-)
Sen. Leland Yee is urging all UC and CSU students and employees who are retaliated against or face disciplinary action as a result of their peaceful protest to contact his offices in San Francisco (415-577-7857) or San Mateo (650-340-8840).
Don't know much about Yee other than that he's a UC graduate and is a Democrat.
9:50 AM PT: The idiocy of Fox News:
This has caused the top news twitter boards to light up because Fox analyst, Megyn Kelly went on television to say that pepper spray is nothing more than a food product and she didn't think that what police did was so wrong.
http://www.examiner.com/...
9:52 AM PT: And the latest from Cal in the Berkeley Daily Planet, http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/...
On Sproul there were no tents, but protestors rebuilt an elaborate Mandala around the Free Speech Monument memorial, which has become something of an Occupy shrine.
(snip)
Welcome to the Open University—had been hung at balcony level across the columns of Sproul Hall. By the time of the “General Assembly” at 6:00 PM about 40 or 50 participants had gathered to talk. The numbers slowly grew as the meeting went on.
Their discussion process seems cumbersome when described, but actually moves fairly smoothly. Some individuals speak through an amplification system, if one has been set up—others use the “mic-check” repeating system, where they speak a sentence or phrase, and wait while the crowd repeats it. Announcements come first, then proposals.
(snip)
Nevertheless, three small pup tents on Sproul steps were occupied on Monday night, with no apparent consequences to the campers.
It was also announced that there’s a new website for the Berkeley movement, “OccupyCal.net”