| Occupy UC Davis | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Occupy movement | |
News coverage of the pepper spraying incident was shown around the world. |
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| Location | Davis, California, US |
| Date | November 18, 2011 4:01 pm[1] (Pacific) |
| Target | UC Davis students |
| Weapon(s) | MK-9[2] |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 11[3] |
| Perpetrator(s) | UC Davis Police |
Occupy UC Davis is a series of Occupy movement demonstrations at the University of California, Davis. It is separate from, but allied with, the off-campus Occupy Davis. Occupy UC Davis gained international attention on November 18, 2011 after a video on YouTube went viral of University police pepper-spraying a group of demonstrators as they were seated on a paved path in the campus quad.[4] A photograph of UC Davis police officer Lt. John Pike pepper spraying demonstrators was captured by psychobiology student Louise Macabitas and uploaded onto her Facebook wall. The image spread and became an Internet meme as people around the world inserted the pepper spray photo into famous works of art and popular culture.[5]
UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza said that the police used pepper spray after being surrounded by demonstrators and separated from supporting officers. However, according to The New York Times, multiple videos show a peaceful demonstration with officers "freely moving about".[6] In the aftermath, the police chief and two officers were placed on administrative leave while UC Davis student and faculty organizations called for the resignation of Linda P.B. Katehi, chancellor of UC Davis. Katehi requested an inquiry into the incident, resulting in the creation of at least five separate investigations currently in progress, including a review of all UC protocols concerning non-violent protestors requested by Mark Yudof, president of the University of California system, an independent investigation by former Los Angeles police chief William J. Bratton, a task force led by former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso composed of students, faculty, staff and members from the UC community, a review by the Yolo County District Attorney's Office and Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, and a review by the UC Davis Academic Senate.[7]
Allegations that police used excessive force against students and demonstrators were said to be part of a larger pattern observed within the state of California and across the United States. The Board of the Council of UC Faculty Associations said that "police violence" was used against non-violent demonstrators at UC Davis, UCLA, UC Berkeley and at a Cal State Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach.[8] Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York’s 8th congressional district and ranking member of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, sent a letter to United States Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that the United States Department of Justice investigate the actions of law enforcement during the nationwide Occupy protests to determine if the civil liberties of demonstrators and reporters were violated. According to Nadler, Occupy UC Davis was one of at least eight separate events recorded on video at Occupy demonstrations throughout the United States where "significant and unwarranted force in making arrests" occurred.[9]
Contents |
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) began on September 17, 2011, in New York City's Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district with protests focused on social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, as well as corruption, and the undue influence of corporations—particularly that of the financial services sector—on government. The protesters' slogan, We are the 99%, refers to the growing difference in wealth in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. The protests grew into a world-wide movement known as the Occupy movement and make use of non-violent civil disobedience. Occupy Cal grew out of this movement as a series of protests at UC Berkeley.
A major theme of the Occupy demonstrations at California public universities is the role of education in creating jobs and improving the quality of life of society and the contrasting failure of the UC Regents and the State of California to honor commitments made in the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Recent 81% tuition increases for students, mandatory furloughs (including for professors), firings of lower-ranking workers (especially those working directly with students), and well-publicized raises for the highest paid administrators have further fueled discontent both within the University of California system (of which UC Davis is a part) and within the California State University system, which has also seen large tuition raises and consequent protests.
Occupy Davis (distinguished from the on-campus but allied Occupy UC Davis) was formed in response to police violence at Occupy Cal and other protests. Occupy Davis protestors occupied the city's Central Park in mid-October.[10]
| External videos | |
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| Police beat and arrest students at UC Berkeley, Nov 9 | |
On November 9, students and professors at UC Berkeley began with a series of teach-ins around campus, a noon rally, and a march. The event attracted approximately 1,500 demonstrators.[11] Midday, protestors set up seven tents to symbolize their support for the Occupy movement. In response, law enforcement officials from UC Berkeley Police, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and other UC Police officers, arrived in riot gear to remove the seven tents from the protest site.[12][13]
Video footage of the afternoon confrontation showed police beating protesters with batons and dragging two protesters by the hair, one of whom was UC Berkeley English professor Celeste Langan.[14] Thirty-nine protesters, including Langan, were arrested for charges including "resisting and delaying a police officer in the performance of their duties, and failure to disperse when given a dispersal order."[15]
The ACLU expressed "grave concerns" about the use of batons on protesters. The UC Student Association released a statement saying "UC Students are outraged by the brutal tactics used by the UCPD against students." [16] In response to the police brutality and other perceived failings of UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau and the UC Regents, the Occupy Cal General Assembly called for a general UC strike on November 15, 2011. Other student groups from around the state announced plans to join in the protest. On November 11, the UC Davis Faculty Association also voted to endorse the November 15 systemwide strike. [17] University Professor Bob Ostertag echoed these sentiments in a public letter about the earlier events at UC Berkeley:[18]
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau thus joins the likes of Bull Connor, the notorious segregationist and architect of the violent repression of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, as some of the very few people who view the non-violent tactics of Martin Luther King as violent.
The faculty of the UC Davis Department of English published a statement calling for "the disbanding of the UCPD and the institution of an ordinance against the presence of police forces on the UC Davis campus, unless their presence is specifically requested by a member of the campus community."[19]
On Tuesday, November 15, several hundred demonstrators rallied on the quad to protest against proposals to increase tuition fees due to state budget cuts.[20] UC Davis was subjected to a 40 percent cut in its general funds and a $130 million deficit in 2011.[21] After marching to Mrak Hall in the administration building, 50 people stayed overnight and two tents were raised outside. The tents were later taken down after a representative for student affairs expressed concerns.[20][21]
On Thursday, November 17, 2011, a group of Occupy UC Davis demonstrators once again set up tents, this time on the campus quad between Memorial Union and Shields Library. On the morning of Friday, November 18, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, citing safety concerns about people from outside the UC Davis community participating in demonstrations on the campus, informed the Occupy UC Davis group in writing that the tents must be removed by 3:00 pm "in the interest of safety, respect for our campus environment and in accordance with our Principles of Community."[22] According to Katehi, the Occupy group did not respond to this request, and they were further informed that if they did not remove the tents, they would be removed.[22]
After being informed of the requests from the administration and police, some students removed their tents. University police announced at the General Assembly that the tents, still numbering approximately 25,[23] would have to be removed by 3:00 pm.
| External media | |
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| Images | |
| Brian Nguyen's flickr set (The California Aggie) | |
| Videos | |
| Cops Pepper Spray Passive Protesters (Associated Press) | |
Police arrived wearing riot gear at 3:30 pm and began removing tents and arresting demonstrators obstructing the removal of tents. A group of demonstrators staged a sit-in on the walkway in the quad, linking arms together and refusing to move.[24] Students began surrounding campus police officers and demanded release of the detained protesters in return for letting the officers leave.[25] Campus police officers asked the demonstrators to move several times, but the students refused.[26]
Sometime around 4:00 pm, two officers began spraying pepper spray directly in the faces of the non-violent, sitting students.[27] Bystanders recorded the incident with cell phone cameras, while members of the crowd chanted "Shame on you" and "Let them go" at the police officers.[28] Eleven protesters received medical treatment; two were hospitalized.[29][30][31]
According to university officials, the officers felt like they were surrounded by the demonstrators. One of the officers who used pepper spray on the students was identified as Lieutenant John Pike.[32] Ten arrests were made.[33] Arrestees were "cited and released on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and failure to disperse".[23] Police began to leave the area around 4:10 pm as more students began to arrive.[34]
Lieutenant John Pike and another unnamed UC Davis Police officer were placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident.[35] UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza was later placed on leave as well.[36]
On November 19, after holding a press conference, Chancellor Katehi walked out of the building where she was confronted by hundreds of silent protestors who lined the sidewalks as she made the three block walk to a waiting vehicle.[37] Katehi appeared on CNN shortly after, demonstrating some remorse but ultimately defending her actions.[38] Katehi also called for creation of a task force to review the incident and report their findings and recommendations within 90 days.[8][39] That evening, approximately 1,000 students and supporters participated in a silent protest against the Chancellor. [40] That evening, the board of UC Davis Faculty issued a statement calling for both the immediate resignation of the Chancellor and for an end to police removal of non-violent protestors from the campus:
Given the recent use of excessive force by police against “occupy” protestors at UC Berkeley and elsewhere, the Chancellor must have anticipated that, by authorizing police action, she was effectively authorizing their use of excessive force against peaceful UCD student protestors. The Chancellor’s role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it. We also call for a policy that will end the practice of forcibly removing non-violent student, faculty, staff, and community protestors by police on the UC Davis campus. The University of California should be taking a leadership role in encouraging the exercise of free speech, not in suppressing it.[41]
| External media | |
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| UC Davis chancellor sorry for pepper spray incident (Reuters) | |
The Davis Faculty Association is an advocacy group that represents only about 110 active tenured and tenure-track faculty members, or less than 5 percent of the more than 2,500 faculty members on the UC Davis campus. The largest faculty group – the Academic Senate – is composed of more than 1,500 tenured and tenure-track faculty members. In addition, there are another 1,000 faculty members on campus made up of adjunct professors, lecturers, University Extension educators and other non-tenure-track academic appointments.[42][43] Linda Bisson, chair of the Academic Senate called for a faculty investigation, but she believes most faculty want Katehi to stay in her post.[44]
On November 21, a 1,729 person General Assembly was held on the UC Davis campus. That body voted (with 99.5% consensus) to stage an education-wide general strike on Monday, November 28.[45]
On November 21, Katehi attended a large student protest attended by an estimated 5,000 people.[46] After listening to their statements, Katehi said she was there to apologize.[47] On the following day, she stated that the police had gone against her specific orders to act peacefully when removing tents or equipment, and not to proceed if there were too many students, and she had not approved the police use of riot gear.[48][47] At a town hall meeting, she told around 1,000 students, "I want to unequivocally apologize to the entire community for the appalling use of pepper spray. I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing like that ever happens again." She said, "My instructions were for no arrests and no police force. I explicitly directed the chief of police that violence should be avoided at all costs."[49]
Katehi and State Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez requested an outside investigation, and Mark G. Yudof appointed former Los Angeles Police Department Chief William J. Bratton to head the investigation.[50] Bratton, chairman of the Kroll Security Group, has been accused by critics and the Council of UC Faculty Associations as having a potential conflict of interest. Kroll, which holds security contracts in the UC system, is a subsidiary of Altegrity Risk International and works closely with the financial sector on Wall Street.[51]
On December 6, 2011, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York’s 8th congressional district and ranking member of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, sent a letter to Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General, requesting that the United States Department of Justice "launch a thorough investigation into law enforcement activities surrounding Occupy Wall Street — and its national offshoots — to determine whether the police have indeed violated the civil liberties of demonstrators or members of the media." In the letter, Nadler notes that Occupy UC Davis was one of at least eight separate events recorded on video at Occupy demonstrations throughout the United States where "significant and unwarranted force in making arrests" occurred.[9]
Demonstrators held Thanksgiving in the quad with a local family donating 10 cooked turkeys and 100 pounds of mashed potatoes.[52] By the end of the trimester, students began to dismantle the encampment on December 8 for winter break.[53] Attorney Bernie Goldsmith told The Davis Enterprise that the Occupy demonstrators plan to return on January 9, 2012.[20]
Journalist Laura Flanders described the events as a "Bull Connor Moment," in reference to the Birmingham, Alabama leader who infamously deployed firehoses and attack dogs against peaceful protestors during the American Civil Rights Movement.[54] Viewing footage of the events, political strategist Ron Christie described it as "excessive force" saying, "I wouldn't call that pepper-spray, I'd say that was a pepper-hose."[55] Kamran Loghman, who helped develop pepper spray into a weapons-grade material with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1980s, said, "I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents."[56]
The Board of the Council of UC Faculty Associations said that "police violence" was used against non-violent demonstrators throughout the state of California:[8]
This week, we have seen excessive force used against non-violent protesters at UC Berkeley, UCLA, CSU Long Beach, and UC Davis. Student, faculty and staff protesters have been pepper-sprayed directly in the eyes and mouth, beaten and shoved by batons, dragged by the arms while handcuffed, and submitted to other forms of excessive force. Protesters have been hospitalized because of injuries inflicted during these incidents. The violence was unprovoked, disproportional and excessive.[57]
In Sacramento on December 14, state legislators questioned UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi in regard to the pepper spraying incident. Concerns were discussed about the current rules for policing protests and use of force. A second hearing will take place when results are in from the investigations.[58]
The image of John Pike using his pepper spray on the occupy protesters has become an internet meme. Images have been manipulated to depict him pepper spraying various famous people, objects and works of art.[59][60]
The incident sparked public debate regarding the appropriate use of pepper spray. On Monday, November 21, 2011, Fox News commentator Megyn Kelly appeared on political talk show The O'Reilly Factor saying of pepper spray "it’s like a derivative of real pepper. It’s a food product essentially."[61] In response, a petition was published on political website change.org to have Megyn Kelly eat or drink a full dose of pepper spray on national television.[62] The meme was also reported in the British press.[63][64]