Wednesday, December 7, 2011

No Confidence Letter from 77 faculty published in Davis Enterprise

And a commenter suggests that signers of the pro and anti Katehi letters should face off in a mean game of dodge ball...


We, the undersigned UC Davis faculty, are compelled by evidence available now to publicly state we have no confidence in the ability of Chancellor Linda Katehi to lead us forward. In our view, the Nov. 18 events and their aftermath have overwhelmed her effectiveness despite her previous accomplishments.

Chancellor Katehi showed poor judgment before the pepper-spray incident by sending the police to remove tents without first personally engaging the Occupy UC Davis students; in so doing, she ignored alternative models for positively moving forward with the activists, as exemplified by actions at Duke and Columbia, or more recently with Occupy San Francisco. She displayed a dangerous ignorance or disregard for the potential for violence given brutal police action against Occupy protests at UC Berkeley, and in Oakland and other cities.

After the incident, following a halting progression of public statements, she claimed to accept responsibility with her words, but in deed distanced herself by directing blame and questions to the police and a vice chancellor. Additionally, the stated rationale to remove the tents (student safety) is belied by more than a week of peaceful, safe encampment.

Finally, the pepper-spray incident has triggered an undeniable international storm of negative discussion and images of the campus and chancellor. This makes her role as chief public spokesperson for the university difficult at best. In particular, we believe she lacks credibility to advocate for the Occupy students’ legitimate concerns (accessible, affordable quality university education without crushing student debt and better post-baccalaureate economic opportunity).

Although we know many of our faculty colleagues continue to back the chancellor while the investigations are under way, we are compelled by the evidence available now and support the pending submission of a petition to the Davis Academic Senate calling for a formal vote of no confidence in her leadership.

Signatures

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