Musings From the Middle Ground

Nickolas Perrone, a grad student in the UC Davis History Department, offers some ideas about engaging students who are deeply concerned about the fate of the university but don't spend their free time reading Fanon.

Town Hall Meeting on UC System protest policing, February 10

The UC Office of the President is holding a Town hall meeting at UC Davis on protest policing in the UC System on Friday February 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Conference Center Ballroom, adjacent to the Vanderhoef Quad at the campus’s south entry.

Last November, President Mark G. Yudof appointed UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a systemwide examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all UC campuses.  The meeting is part of this examination.

A New Quarter Begins at UC Davis #occupyUCDavis #UCDavis #Katehi

Here is an update on the UC Davis situation that I wrote with Sara Augusto (a Ph.D. Candidate in my department) for Dissent's blog.  It discusses the positions of supporters and opponents of Katehi, as well as Katehi's interactions with students in the aftermath of November 18th.

Why the Eggheads were Pepper-Sprayed #OccupyUCDavis #UCD #UCDavis

This post from the Occupy UC Davis web site explains why the eggheads were pepper sprayed: "for their own safety."

First Occupy UC Davis General Assembly of the Quarter at Noon on Quad #OccupyUCDavis #UCDavis

This text update from Occupy UC Davis is pretty cool!

"Please get out your cell phone and text "UCDACTION" to 23559. This will allow us to send you a text message to let you know of any MAJOR actions planned, so you can be there to see it. We promise not to spam you - there is an average of one text message sent over this line every two weeks."

UC Davis Administration Offers Free Therapy to Protestors #OccupyUCDavis #UCD #UCDavis

An excellent post by Crank at Bicycle Barricade, analyzes the therapeutic discourse of the UC Davis Administration on the events of November 18. 

"Since that date, UC Davis administration has deployed a therapeutic discourse which seeks to shift the focus from accountability (negatively construed as “blame”) to healing and moving forward."

UC Davis Eggheads Pepper-Sprayed #OccupyUCDavis #UCDavis

Robert Arneson's egghead sculptures at UC Davis were pepper-sprayed Sunday night.  They have since been cleaned.  More pictures.

“Bob Arneson believed that art should interact with everyday life. He wanted art that regular people would understand and enjoy. Maybe that's why the Eggheads are the most photographed objects on campus.” — Nelson Art Gallery Director Renny Pritikin

UC Davis Faculty to vote on Katehi February 7 #UCDavis #OccupyUCDavis #Katehi

The UC Davis Academic Senate today released the full text of three proposed resolutions about Chancellor Katehi and the events of November 18.  On February 7, members of the faculty will receive on-line ballots and statements supporting and opposing the resolutions.  The resolutions are the same as those in my earlier posts: A expresses a lack of confidence in Katehi, B condemns police violence against protestors and expresses confidence in Katehi.  C condemns police violence against protestors.   One difference is that Resolution B now includes a long list of "whereas" statements.  Supporters of Resolution A (those wishing to express "no confidence" in Chancellor Katehi) introduced Resolution C in order to ensure that Resolution B did not syphon off support for their resolution by condemning police violence.  I analyzed the rationales and prospects of these resolutions here.  You can comment on the resolutions and see the list of signatories here. 

Resolution A

In light of the events on the quadrangle of the UC Davis campus on the afternoon of Friday November 18, 2011, in light of Chancellor Linda Katehi’s email to faculty of November 18 in which she admitted that she had ordered the police to take action against the students who were demonstrating on the quadrangle and said that she had had “no option” but to proceed in this way, and in light of the failure of Chancellor Katehi to act effectively to resolve the resulting crisis in the intervening days,

Be it therefore resolved that the Davis Division of the Senate of the University of California lacks confidence in the leadership of Chancellor Katehi, and

Be it also resolved that the result of the vote on this motion be communicated to the Board of Regents and the President of the University of California.

Resolution B

Whereas non-violent political protest, free assembly, and free speech are constitutional rights valued at the UC Davis,

And whereas the response of the UC Davis Police Department to peaceful protestors on November 18, 2011 was appalling,  

And whereas in the UC Davis culture it is customary for representative(s) from the highest levels of the administration to engage in direct dialogue with demonstrators, 

And whereas prior to November 18, 2011 Chancellor Linda Katehi worked diligently to elevate the national and international stature of the Davis campus,

And whereas the presence of an accomplished scholar at the top post has helped UC Davis attract and retain outstanding scholars, including faculty members serving at the highest levels of administration,

And whereas in the last two years, Chancellor Linda Katehi developed a bold plan for campus growth that includes an aggressive fund-raising campaign that will alleviate the burden imposed by ever decreasing state financial support,

And whereas Chancellor Linda Katehi apologized to University community for the events of November 18, 2011,

And whereas Chancellor Linda Katehi publically stated that she will ensure that such events do not recur,

And whereas the events of November 18 transformed Linda Katehi into a Chancellor who engages in a full and open dialogue with students, staff, and faculty,

And whereas Chancellor Katehi moved expeditiously to replace the flawed communications in the two days following the events with a campus-wide dialogue through a series of town hall meetings with students, staff, and faculty,

And whereas a Chancellor with first-hand experience of the horrific events of November 18, 2011 is better qualified to deal with its aftermath,

And whereas dispatching police before engaging in a direct dialogue with protesters, while running counter to the UC Davis culture, does not outweigh the Chancellor Katehi’s impeccable performance of all her other duties,

And whereas Chancellor Katehi’s resignation would have devastating effects on the moral and academic standing of the campus, thereby making it highly unlikely that UC Davis could attract a Chancellor of her stature,

And whereas it is time to promote a constructive healing process rather than risk more harm by pressuring the Chancellor to resign:

Be it therefore resolved that the Davis Division of the Academic Senate:

1. Condemns both the dispatch of police in response to non-violent protests and the use of excessive force that led to the deplorable pepper-spraying events of November 18, 2011.
2. Opposes all violent police responses to non-violent protests on campus.
3. Demands that police deployment against protesters be considered only after all reasonable administrative efforts to bridge differences have been exhausted, including direct consultation with the leadership of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate.
4. Accepts Chancellor Linda Katehi’s good faith apology.
5. Expresses confidence in Chancellor Linda Katehi’s leadership and efforts to place UC Davis among the top 5 public universities in the nation.

Resolution C

Be it resolved that that the Davis Division of the Senate of the University of California hereby

(1) condemns both the dispatch of police and use of excessive force in response to non-violent protests on November 18, 2011; 

(2) opposes violent police response to non-violent protests on campus; 

(3) demands that police deployment against protestors be considered only after all reasonable efforts have been exhausted and with direct consultation with Academic Senate leadership.

New Blog: UC Faculty Supporting Students #UCDavis #OccupyUCDavis

A new blog by UC Davis Faculty (where I am posting occasionally):

"We believe that public education is the cornerstone of democracy. We are concerned about education disappearing as a shared public good. We are UC Davis faculty committed to advocating and supporting access to higher education, galvanized by Nov. 18th.

The goals of this website are:

1) aggregate and disseminate information related to Nov. 18th (pepper-spraying at UC Davis),

2) collect the voices and actions of faculty related to Nov. 18th and larger struggles around privatization and decline in public funding for UC and higher education more broadly."

College Credit for Occupiers! #UCDavis #OccupyUCDavis

UC Davis Professors Julie Wyman (Technocultural Studies) and Julie Sze (American Studies) are offering courses this winter for students involved or interested in the Occupy movement or the anti-UC Privatization movement.

Julie Wyman, Technocultural Studies 198: Documenting the Movement, Part One: Building an Archive

This is a 2 unit directed group study course in winter 2012 that allows students to produce an archive of footage, audio, photographs, and media coverage of the student movement on campus preceding, during, and following the recent student protest movement on campus. 

Students will earn credits for gathering, digitizing, and organizing materials, obtaining releases and ownership information where possible, and also beginning to disseminate and edit this media. The end result of this quarter will be a shared public archive of media - for current and future students, faculty, and researchers. 

We will be discussing and formulating a longer-term project of creating a longer documentary film and/or a collection of short student films that look in depth at this moment, through many modalities (ie experimental, narrative, and longer form documentary). In addition to journalistic reporting on events that have transpired, students will be encouraged to  utilize the material they collect and organize with a larger-scope and more artistic approach. 

During Spring 2012, students in TCS 104: Documentary Production - will be using this archive to create original short pieces that tell a broader story of our campus. In spring 2012, there will also be an opportunity for further independent study work for students who've already taken TCS 104 but would like to continue working with this material for course credit.

The course will meet as a group bi-weekly (every other week) on Thursday afternoon - 4:30 - 5:40 pm, and will involve lab work and research activities on a weekly basis. Students should expect to spend an average of (at least) 5 hours/ week on this course. 

Julie Sze, American Studies 198: Occupy Your Education!

This is a 2 unit directed group study course in winter 2012 that allows students interested or already involved in student activism to get course credit to support your learning on activism on UC privatization and Occupy movements

Rather than prescribe the topics and activities, each student will construct their own plan in conjunction with the instructor, outlining your particular learning objectives and activities for the quarter.

 Here are some ideas (preliminary list only):

• Produce social media/ regular thoughtful blog posting
• Do photo/ video documentary micro-projects
• Create/ disseminate a reading list on a specific theme (i.e. the history of the CA Master Plan, Prop. 13, privatization in the UC, etc)
• Create teaching curriculum (i.e. how to teach the crisis to different groups)

Students will earn credits for constructing your own learning plan, completing the activities specified in your specific plan, and regular meetings with the instructor. You are required to meet with the instructor, either on a one-on-one basis, or during the group bi-weekly meetings on Thursday mornings 11-12 (beginning 1/26- first week in my office). Students should expect to spend an average of (at least) 4 hours/ week on this course.

Instructor:

Julie Sze, Associate Professor Director of American Studies

Email at jsze@ucdavis.edu
http://ams.ucdavis.edu/~jsze/

UC Berkeley Faculty Senate Resolutions as a Model for UC Davis #OccupyUCDavis on Police Violence and Chancellor Birgenau

Today I had a chance to read the resolutions adopted by the UC Berkeley Academic Senate after police beat faculty and student protestors at Occupy Cal on November 9th.  I thought the resolutions were pretty compelling and might provide a model for the UC Davis Academic Senate which will take up competing resolutions of confidence and lack of confidence in Chancellor Linda B. Katehi sometime in January.

At UC Berkeley, four resolutions all passed by a vote of 336-34.  For more information, including audio of the meeting click here.

The first resolution (authored by Wendy Brown, Barrie Thorne and Judith Butler) initially declared that the faculty had "lost confidence" in Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and other top administrators but the authors toned down the resolution before the meeting, arguing:

"our resolution is being misconstrued in two important ways.  First, some have misread the resolution as unqualifiedly defending the Occupy Cal encampment and as arguing that students have the right to pitch tents on campus whenever and wherever they like.  Second, some have misread the resolution as proposing a blanket “no-confidence” vote on three administrators, effectively soliciting their resignations. Neither of these positions or effects was our intention.  Rather, we are concerned about a pattern of violent police responses to non-violent protests (three instances in two years) on our campus, and we are calling on the Senate to bring such responses to an immediate end."

Apparently, the authors wanted to express their lack of confidence in the ability of the administrators to protect free speech and the safety of student protestors but not blanket "no confidence."

Both the original and revised resolutions are below.  Three additional ones (one of which expresses "greatly diminished confidence in the Campus's leadership") are also worth reading.

Original Resolution proposed by: Wendy Brown, Professor, Political Science; Barrie Thorne, Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies/Sociology; Judith Butler, Professor, Rhetoric.* 

Whereas, Non-violent political protest engages fundamental rights of free assembly and free speech, and 

Whereas, November 9th efforts by protestors to set up and remain in a temporary encampment near Sproul Hall constitutes non-violent political protest, and 

Whereas, These non-violent actions were met with a brutal and dangerous police response (see, e.g.,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buovLQ9qyWQ&feature=share), a response authorized in advance as well as retroactively justified by Chancellor Birgeneau, Executive Vice Chancellor Breslauer and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs LeGrand, and 

Whereas, This is the third time in two years that such police violence has been unleashed upon protesters at Berkeley, with resulting bodily injuries to protestors, student and faculty outrage, a series of expensive lawsuits against the university, a tarnished university image, and a severely compromised climate for free expression on campus; 

Therefore be it Resolved that the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate has lost confidence in the ability of Chancellor Birgeneau, EVC Breslauer and VC LeGrande to respond appropriately to non-violent campus protests, to secure student welfare amidst these protests, to minimize the deployment of force and to respect freedom of speech and assembly on the Berkeley campus. 

Revised Resolution proposed by: Wendy Brown, Professor, Political Science; Barrie Thorne, Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies/Sociology; Judith Butler, Professor, Rhetoric.

Whereas, Non-violent political protest engages fundamental rights of free assembly and free speech, and

Whereas, November 9th efforts by protestors to set up and remain in a temporary encampment near Sproul Hall constitutes non-violent political protest, and

Whereas, These non-violent actions were met with a brutal and dangerous police response (see, e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buovLQ9qyWQ&feature=share), a response authorized in advance as well as retroactively justified by Chancellor Birgeneau, Executive Vice Chancellor Breslauer and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs LeGrande, and

Whereas, This is the third time in two years that such police violence has been unleashed upon protesters at Berkeley, with resulting bodily injuries to protestors, student and faculty outrage, a series of expensive lawsuits against the university, a tarnished university image, and a severely compromised climate for free expression on campus;

Therefore be it resolved that the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate:

1. Opposes all violent police responses to non-violent protest, whether that protest is lawful or not.

2. Condemns the UC Berkeley administration’s authorization of violent responses to nonviolent protests over the past two years.

3. Demands that Chancellor Birgeneau, Executive Vice Chancellor Breslauer, and Vice Chancellor LeGrande take responsibility for and repudiate such policing as it occurred over the past two years.

4. Demands that these administrators develop, follow and enforce university policy to respond non-violently to non-violent protests, to secure student welfare amidst these protests, and to minimize the deployment of force and foster free expression and assembly on campus.

Resolution proposed by: David Hollinger, Professor, History, and Thomas 
Laqueur, Professor, History.

The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate of the University of California
hereby condemns the over-reaction of police to demonstrations on our campus
on November 9; formally alerts the Chancellor and those who report to him that
this incident has greatly diminished confidence in the Campus’s leadership; calls
upon the Chancellor to institute special training for police forces employed on
campus to deal with acts of political expression and civil disobedience in the
University and, more generally, to immediately implement the recommendations
of the Police Review Board (The Brazil Report) as issued on June 14, 2010.

Resolution proposed by: Kurt C. Organista, Professor, Social Welfare

Whereas, nonviolent political protest engages fundamental rights of free
assembly and free speech, and

Whereas, the campus has established time, place, and manner guidelines by
which it encourages such activities, and

Whereas, protesters may sometimes engage in political noncooperation which
includes acts of civil disobedience – including the deliberate, open and peaceful
violation of particular laws, decrees, regulations, and

Whereas, there is a clear chain of command ending with the Chancellor, which
implements training and deployment of police to respond appropriately to
protests, and

Whereas, campuses should exercise restraint in responding to peaceful protests
and seek to resolve the situation through dialogue, and

Whereas, we are outraged by the brutal and dangerous police responses against
members of the University community at UC Berkeley and other campuses,

Therefore be it Resolved that the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate

1) calls upon the Chancellor, EVCP, and Chief of Police to officially
apologize to the campus community for the behavior of the UCPD on Nov.
9, 2011

2) calls for immediate revision of policies and practices to minimize the
danger of excessive use of force by the police, and to better train the police
to employ nonviolent law enforcement that respects the rights of
nonviolent protesters

3) affirms its support for the right of free speech and peaceful protest by all
members of the University community

4) affirms its strong opposition to the State’s disinvestment in higher
education, which is at the root of the student protests.

Resolution proposed by: Brian A. Barsky, Professor, Electrical Engineering and 
Computer Sciences, and Jonathan Simon, Professor, Law.

Whereas, The “right of the people peaceably to assemble” is enshrined in the First
Amendment of the Constitution of the United States;

Whereas, Section 9(a) of Article 9 of the California Constitution establishes that
“the University of California constitutes a public trust”;

Whereas, Demonstrations consisting of both explicit and symbolic speech are a
fundamental part of the public discourse in modern democracies and have been
an important part of many social movements both nationally and internationally;

Whereas, Police violence has been repeatedly perpetrated against peaceful
demonstrators on the Berkeley campus;

Whereas, The repeated incidents of police violence suggest that the
Administration and the UCPD and may have adopted a policy of preemptive use
of force against peaceful demonstrators whom they anticipate may engage in acts
of civil disobedience; and

Whereas, The Administration and UCPD appear to have not followed the
recommendation of the June 14, 2010 Report of the Police Review Board (“Brazil
report”) to clarify the proper lines of authority and approach to non-violent civil
disobedience on the Berkeley campus despite this confusion having been
identified in the Report as a possible source of unnecessary violence;

Be it therefore RESOLVED, that:

1.  It is the sense of the faculty that the physical safety of campus community
members (including police officers), and respect for their rights of political
expression, dictate that police should not be deployed preemptively with riot
weapons and tactics in response to non-violent demonstrations.

2.  The faculty calls upon the Administration to implement the recommendations
of the June 14, 2010 Report of the Police Review Board (“Brazil report”).

3.  The faculty calls upon the Administration to immediately clarify the division of
civilian and police authority over response to campus demonstrations including
requests for mutual aid to outside police forces.

4.  The faculty calls upon the Administration to make public the specific
conditions under which it is prepared to authorize UCPD (as well as other forces
operating under mutual aid) to use weapons and forceful tactics, including but not
limited to batons, pepper spray, and pressure point grips, against demonstrators
engaged in non-violent actions including linking arms and other forms of passive
resistance to arrest.

5.  The faculty calls upon the Administration to announce that it will not authorize
the use of such forceful tactics to prevent or preempt the formation of any
“unlawful assembly” that is composed in substantial part of students, faculty, or
staff, and remains peaceful and non-violent.

6.  The faculty recommends that if a demonstration turns into an unlawful
assembly (for example, an occupation of a building) then the Administration
should engage in dialogue, communication, and negotiation as the primary and
preferred approach.

7.  The faculty recommends that if and when arrests are deemed necessary to
restore core university functions, the Administration not authorize the routine use
of batons, pepper spray or other weapons and forceful tactics without specific
need to respond to violence by arrestees.

8.  The faculty recommends that following any incident in which forcible methods
were used that the Chancellor should convene a public meeting with a minimum
of delay to explain the rationale of the decision to employ them.

9.  The Academic Senate shall establish a Senate Committee on Demonstrations
and Student Actions composed solely of faculty members to consult with the
Administration, UCPD and students.

#UCDavis Academic Senate to vote on opposing ballots expressing confidence and lack of confidence in Chancellor #Katehi #OccupyUCDavis

This message provides notice of two impending ballots, as required by Davis Division Bylaw 17: http://academicsenate.ucdavis.edu/cerj/manual/dd_bylaws.cfm#17-.   You have received this notice as a voting member of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate.  The Davis Division received at least 50 valid signatures with each petition, requiring initiation of a formal notice and electronic ballot.   More information, including the method for gathering pro and con statements and the voting period, will be distributed on January 9, 2012.  The petitions are summarized below:

1) Petition received on December 6, 2011, requests a vote regarding a lack of confidence in the leadership of Chancellor Katehi, with the result of the vote to be communicated to the Board of Regents and UC President.

2) Petition received on December 15, 2011, requests a vote regarding 1) condemnation of both the dispatch of police and use of excessive force in response to non-violent protests on November 18, 2011; 2) opposing violent police response to non-violent protests on campus; 3) demanding that police deployment against protestors be considered only after all reasonable efforts have been exhausted and with direct consultation with Academic Senate leadership; 4) acceptance of Chancellor Katehi's apology; 5) expression of confidence in Chancellor Katehi's leadership and efforts to place UC Davis among the top public universities in the nation.

Nathan Brown calls for #Katehi's Resignation Again #OccupyUCdavis

Professor Nathan Brown of the UC Davis English Department, the first member of the faculty to call for Chancellor Katehi's resignation, recently published another such call in the Davis Enterprise.  He lists an impressive number of individuals and organizations that have joined him in this call. Several commenters note that this only a small minority of the faculty.  They also note that Board of the Davis Faculty Association (of which Brown is a member) called for the Chancellor's resignation without consulting its members and that when it did consult its members, a majority did not support the Board's action. I made similar points about faculty opinion on Katehi and about the DFA in earlier posts.  By the same token, only a minority of the faculty (albeit a larger one) have expressed confidence in Katehi.  Most faculty have not yet taken a public position.  The Academic Senate (the body representing the Faculty) will vote on two ballots--one expressing confidence and the other expressing lack of confidence in the Chancellor in January or February.

#occupyucdavis protestors are not dirty, drug-addled potential rapists after all!

After some angry e-mails, the UC Davis news service toned down its article portraying protestors occupying Dutton hall as dirty, drug-addled potential rapists. Original article. Revised article.

Weird fashion shoot #occupyucdavis

Link

UC Davis: Protestors are Pigs and Druggies!

The University's official organ, Dateline, ran an inflammatory and unintentionally hilarious article today that belies the Chancellor's pledge to enter into a respectful dialogue with the protestors. It bemoans the costs of cleaning up after the dirty protestors, the inconvenience of staff and students, and employees' fears of sexual assault. My favorite parts are a picture of an empty wine bottle (Barefoot Winery--I guess the 99 percent can't afford Mondavi) and complaints about lingering body odor. Update: UC Davis news service changes its tune.

Strategic Advice from Louis Warren

UC Davis History Professor Louis Warren gives some good advice to the UC student movement. I especially like his point that with the recent redistricting of California, the Democrats may be able to achieve a 2/3 majority in both houses of the legislature in the 2012 election--enabling them to raise taxes to fund education (if pressured enough). This has been impossible up to now because Prop 13 requires a 2/3 majority for raising taxes and Republicans have opposed any and all tax increases. I also like his suggested slogan for approaching legislators (most of whom went to public colleges): "We want the same deal you got!" (an affordable and high quality public education).

Facts?

Via Jonathan Eisen, the Administration's Fact Sheet on the Pepper Spraying annotated by some faculty.

Majority of Davis Faculty Association (DFA) opposes DFA Board's call for Katehi's Resignation

In an earlier post, I noted that the Davis Faculty Association (DFA) Board had called for Chancellor Katehi's resignation the day after the pepper spraying without polling its 145 members (including myself) and that some members felt that it should have done so first. Many members were also upset that the media failed to distinguish between the position of the DFA board and the DFA membership and, even worse, implied that the DFA represented "the faculty" rather than a mere ten percent of the faculty (which is actually represented by the Academic Senate). In my view, both the DFA and the Academic Senate should have disabused the press of this notion. In response to this discontent, the DFA begin surveying its members on November 23 (five days after November 18). And yesterday (three weeks after November 18) the DFA Board released the results: Only 45% of members responded and, of those, the majority opposed the DFA's call for Katehi's resignation.

DFA board chair Scott Shershow's letter reporting the results is below. Shershow reports that the Board's decision to ask for Katehi's resignation was not unanimous. He also notes that three members of the Board have recently resigned and two have been replaced by new members appointed by the Board. At least one of these resignations, that of Board chair (at the time), Bob Rucker, was related to Rucker's opposition to the Board's call for Katehi's resignation. Though Rucker resigned three weeks ago, the Board only informed the membership of this resignation yesterday. And only in the most indirect way: Shershow does not name Rucker as one of the Board members who resigned and does not reveal that his resignation was prompted the DFA statement on Katehi.

None of this is very democratic or transparent, especially when compared with the inspiring example of the Occupy General Assemblies.

----------------------

Letter from DFA Board Chair Scott Shershow

On November 19, 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the pepper-spraying of non-violent UC Davis students protesting tuition increases, the DFA board issued a statement calling for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi, and calling for an end to “the practice of forcibly removing non-violent student, faculty, staff, and community protestors by police.”

http://ucdfa.org/2011/11/19/dfa-board-calls-for-katehis-resignation/

In the last two weeks, we surveyed the DFA membership for their opinions of the board’s action. Sixty-four members responded (out of a total membership of 145). On the first question, regarding our call for an end to the policy of using the UCD police to suppress demonstrators, 58 members approved and 4 did not approve. On the second question, regarding our call for the Chancellor’s resignation, 34 members did not approve, and 29 approved. (A few respondents did not answer both questions.) The opinions expressed in the comment portion of the survey varied widely. Some members expressed enthusiastic support for the Board’s action, praising the DFA for assuming a leadership role in this pressing issue. Some others expressed strong disapproval of the Board. In particular, some members claimed the Board’s decision was “premature,” suggested that the membership ought to have been surveyed first, or noted the fact that some media outlets reported that this was an action of the DFA in general.

Several members asked for more information about the Board’s process. It should be noted that the DFA acts by majority vote of its Board in accordance with the organization’s by-laws. In this specific case, on the Saturday following the pepper spray incident, the Board debated its response via email. A majority voted to release the statement on the DFA website, in response to what we deemed an extremely urgent and quickly-evolving situation.

In making this decision, the Board majority took into strong consideration the initial statement of Chancellor Katehi in which she blamed the protestors for the violence, as well as her second statement in which she acknowledged ordering in the police. We also took into consideration a similar, less publicized event that took place in 2009 where UCD police in riot gear were sent in to Mrak Hall to remove peaceful protestors of tuition increases and faculty and staff furloughs, resulting in several injuries and 52 arrests.

http://www.kcra.com/education/21669598/detail.html

Finally, we were especially mindful of the brutalization of students and faculty at another peaceful demonstration at UC Berkeley nine days earlier. In the wake of this event, it seemed to us that the Chancellor had every reason to anticipate something similar here, and that, under these circumstances, her decision to order armed police onto the campus in the context of a peaceful demonstration was absolutely unacceptable.

The DFA Board’s action, was, to our knowledge, the first explicit statement of faculty solidarity with the students involved, and was portrayed in the initial wave of press reports as representing faculty support for their students. Some reports simply ascribed the statement to “the DFA,” whereas the statement itself clearly notes that it comes from “the board of the DFA.” It should be noted, however, that according to our by-laws, the elected board does have the duty to act for the Association.

The Board has met twice to evaluate developments since its statement on November 19. A majority continues to stand by its initial statement to uphold its support for the student movement in general. We are not encouraged by the Chancellor’s statements and apologies, which appear to have shifted according to the needs of the moment, nor by the revelation of a new Chancellor's "advisory board" filled with corporate CEOs. Chancellor Katehi has already publicly stated that she is fully responsible for the pepper-spraying incident. We agree, and therefore continue to call for her resignation.

DFA board members are elected at a yearly election in the spring, in accordance with the bylaws. Two current members were appointed by the board to fill two vacancies caused by two of three recent resignations. The board wishes to fill the remaining vacancy, and we encourage any member who wishes to help steer future board decisions to nominate him or herself.

Tom Hayden: Time to End the Pepper-Spray Spree

Talk at The Avid Reader, 16th and Broadway, Sacramento
7 pm Tuesday, Dec. 13