Occupy UC Davis
Encyclopedia
Occupy UC Davis is an ongoing series of Occupy Movement
demonstrations at the University of California, Davis
. It is distinguished from the off-campus but allied 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 peaceful demonstrators as they were seated on a sidewalk. Police officers claimed that demonstrators had surrounded them and that they used the pepper-spray in self-defense. However, videos of the event did not support the claim that the non-violent protestors posed any threat to the officers. Consequently, two UC Davis police officers and UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza were placed on administrative leave while UC Davis student and faculty organizations are calling for the resignation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi
. Mark Yudof
, president of the University of California
system, has called for a review of all UC protocols for dealing with non-violent protestors.
civil disobedience
of the kind used in the American Civil Rights Movement. It is a part of the Occupy Movement
and closely tied to Occupy Cal
.
beginning September 17, 2011, in New York City's Zuccotti Park
in the Wall Street
financial district. The protests have 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 protest since grew into a world-wide movement known as the Occupy Movement
.
Occupy Davis
(as opposed to Occupy UC Davis) is the on-going protest held in the city itself. Occupy Davis protestors occupied the city's Central Park in mid-October. While Occupy Davis was directly inspired by Occupy Wall Street in October, Occupy UC Davis was formed only later, largely in response to police violence at Occupy Cal and other protests.
is an on-going 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 as a whole, 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.
. In response, law enforcement officials from UC Berkeley Police, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office
and other UC Police officers in riot gear arrived to remove the seven tents from the protest site.
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. 39 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."
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." In response to the police brutality and other perceived failings of 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. University Professor Bob Ostertag
echoed these sentiments in a public letter about the earlier events at UC Berkeley, writing:
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."
protesters on the UC Davis campus to remove their tents from the quad. The reason for this was based on University event policies that stated unless a permit was reserved, the use of tents was unlawful and could potentially create hazards for students over the weekend, when resources were limited. When a group of protestors engaged in nonviolent
civil disobedience
refused to remove their tents and staged a sit-in, campus police officers pepper spray
ed them. Eleven protesters received medical treatment; two were hospitalized. Nathan Brown, assistant professor at UC Davis, said, "One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood." The police have not responded to these claims.
According to police and university officials, the 35 or so officers present felt surrounded. One of the officers who used pepper spray was identified as Lieutenant John Pike. Ten arrests were made.. A demonstrator said that the police were encircled by the demonstrators. "A collective decision was made on the fly to just sit in a circle arms linked legs crossed, with police officers and "prisoners" in the middle because we didn't want them arresting only 3 of us. It wasn't fair that 50 of us were there, and only a few arrested who hadn't volunteered to be arrested. There was still one walkway open that the police were going to use to walk the arrestees out. I saw some friends of mine sit down there, and they were my friends, so I joined them. We linked arms, legs crossed."
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. 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." 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."
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. Katehi appeared on CNN shortly after, demonstrating some remorse but ultimately defending her actions. Katehi also called for creation of a task force to review the incident and report their findings and recommendations within 90 days. That evening, approximately 1,000 students and supporters participated in a silent protest against the Chancellor. 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:
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 comprised 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.. Linda Bisson, chair of the Academic Senate called for a faculty investigation, but she believes most faculty want Katehi to stay in her post. .
Lieutenant John Pike and another unnamed UC Davis Police officer were placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident. UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza was later placed on leave as well. 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. 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.
On November 21, Katehi attended a large student protest, and after listening to their statements, said she was there to apologize. 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. 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."
. The image has been pasted onto many historically significant works of art, including Trumbull's Declaration of Independence
and the cover of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Occupy movement
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to be widely covered was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, taking place on September 17, 2011...
demonstrations at the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
. It is distinguished from the off-campus but allied Occupy Davis
Occupy Davis
Occupy Davis is an on-going protest in Davis, California. It was formed on September 17, 2011 as part of the Occupy Movement. Beginning October 15, protestors began an occupation of the city's Central Park....
. 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 peaceful demonstrators as they were seated on a sidewalk. Police officers claimed that demonstrators had surrounded them and that they used the pepper-spray in self-defense. However, videos of the event did not support the claim that the non-violent protestors posed any threat to the officers. Consequently, two UC Davis police officers and UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza were placed on administrative leave while UC Davis student and faculty organizations are calling for the resignation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi
Linda P.B. Katehi
Pisti Basile "Linda" Katehi-Tseregounis is a Greek-American engineer and university administrator. Since 2009, she has served as the sixth chancellor of the University of California, Davis.-Early life and education:...
. Mark Yudof
Mark Yudof
Mark G. Yudof is an American law professor and academic administrator. He is president of the University of California , former chancellor of the University of Texas System , and former president of the University of Minnesota .In addition to his position as Chancellor at The University of Texas,...
, president of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
system, has called for a review of all UC protocols for dealing with non-violent protestors.
Background
Occupy UC Davis draws upon non-violentNonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
of the kind used in the American Civil Rights Movement. It is a part of the Occupy Movement
Occupy movement
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to be widely covered was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, taking place on September 17, 2011...
and closely tied to Occupy Cal
Occupy Cal
Occupy Cal is an ongoing series of demonstrations that began on November 9, 2011, on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California. It is allied with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, San Francisco Bay Area Occupy groups such as Occupy Oakland, Occupy...
.
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrationsDemonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
beginning September 17, 2011, in New York City's Zuccotti Park
Zuccotti Park
Zuccotti Park, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park, is a publicly accessible park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a controlled by Brookfield Properties. The park was created in 1968 by Pittsburgh-based United States Steel, after the property owners negotiated its creation with city...
in the Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
financial district. The protests have focused on social and economic inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
, high unemployment, greed, as well as corruption, and the undue influence of corporations—particularly that of the financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
sector—on government. The protesters' slogan We are the 99% refers to the growing difference in wealth
Income inequality in the United States
Income inequality in the United States of America refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner in the US. Data from the United States Department of Commerce, CBO, and Internal Revenue Service indicate that income inequality among households has been increasing...
in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. The protest since grew into a world-wide movement known as the Occupy Movement
Occupy movement
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to be widely covered was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, taking place on September 17, 2011...
.
Occupy Davis
Occupy Davis
Occupy Davis is an on-going protest in Davis, California. It was formed on September 17, 2011 as part of the Occupy Movement. Beginning October 15, protestors began an occupation of the city's Central Park....
(as opposed to Occupy UC Davis) is the on-going protest held in the city itself. Occupy Davis protestors occupied the city's Central Park in mid-October. While Occupy Davis was directly inspired by Occupy Wall Street in October, Occupy UC Davis was formed only later, largely in response to police violence at Occupy Cal and other protests.
Occupy Cal
Occupy CalOccupy Cal
Occupy Cal is an ongoing series of demonstrations that began on November 9, 2011, on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California. It is allied with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, San Francisco Bay Area Occupy groups such as Occupy Oakland, Occupy...
is an on-going series of protests at UC Berkeley. A major theme of the Occupy demonstrations at California public universities is the role of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
in creating jobs and improving the quality of life of society as a whole, and the contrasting failure of the UC Regents and the State of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
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
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
system (of which UC Davis is a part) and within the California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
system, which has also seen large tuition raises and consequent protests.
Police violence at Occupy Cal, protests in response at UC Davis
On November 9, students and professors at UC Berkeley began with a series of "teach-ins" around campus, a noon rally and march. Approximately 1,500 demonstrators attended the days' events. Midday, protestors set up seven tents to symbolize their support for Occupy MovementOccupy movement
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to be widely covered was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, taking place on September 17, 2011...
. In response, law enforcement officials from UC Berkeley Police, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office is a law enforcement agency serving Alameda County, California. The ACSO is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies , the American Correctional Association , National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the...
and other UC Police officers in riot gear arrived to remove the seven tents from the protest site.
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. 39 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."
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." In response to the police brutality and other perceived failings of Robert Birgeneau
Robert Birgeneau
Robert Joseph Birgeneau is a Canadian physicist, educator, and university administrator. He is the ninth chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and was the fourteenth president of the University of Toronto from 2000 to 2004.-Biography:The first from his family to finish high school,...
and the UC Regents, the Occupy Cal
Occupy Cal
Occupy Cal is an ongoing series of demonstrations that began on November 9, 2011, on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California. It is allied with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, San Francisco Bay Area Occupy groups such as Occupy Oakland, Occupy...
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. University Professor Bob Ostertag
Bob Ostertag
Robert "Bob" Ostertag is an experimental sound artist based in San Francisco.- Early career :...
echoed these sentiments in a public letter about the earlier events at UC Berkeley, writing:
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."
Police violence at Occupy UC Davis
On November 18, 2011, Chancellor Katehi ordered Occupy movementOccupy movement
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to be widely covered was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, taking place on September 17, 2011...
protesters on the UC Davis campus to remove their tents from the quad. The reason for this was based on University event policies that stated unless a permit was reserved, the use of tents was unlawful and could potentially create hazards for students over the weekend, when resources were limited. When a group of protestors engaged in nonviolent
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
refused to remove their tents and staged a sit-in, campus police officers pepper spray
Pepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...
ed them. Eleven protesters received medical treatment; two were hospitalized. Nathan Brown, assistant professor at UC Davis, said, "One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood." The police have not responded to these claims.
According to police and university officials, the 35 or so officers present felt surrounded. One of the officers who used pepper spray was identified as Lieutenant John Pike. Ten arrests were made.. A demonstrator said that the police were encircled by the demonstrators. "A collective decision was made on the fly to just sit in a circle arms linked legs crossed, with police officers and "prisoners" in the middle because we didn't want them arresting only 3 of us. It wasn't fair that 50 of us were there, and only a few arrested who hadn't volunteered to be arrested. There was still one walkway open that the police were going to use to walk the arrestees out. I saw some friends of mine sit down there, and they were my friends, so I joined them. We linked arms, legs crossed."
Response
Journalist Laura FlandersLaura Flanders
Laura Flanders is a British-American journalist who presents the current events show GRITtv, broadcast weekdays on Link and Free Speech TV....
described the events as a "Bull Connor
Bull Connor
Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement...
Moment," in reference to the Birmingham, Alabama leader who infamously deployed firehoses and attack dogs against peaceful protestors during the American Civil Rights Movement. Viewing footage of the events, political strategist Ron Christie
Ron Christie
Ronald I. "Ron" Christie is an American government relations expert and Republican political strategist, who has also worked as a member of former Vice President Dick Cheney's staff. He is also the author of two books, and an occasional guest on various cable news programs. He serves as an Adjunct...
described it as "excessive force" saying, "I wouldn't call that pepper-spray, I'd say that was a pepper-hose." Kamran Loghman, who helped develop pepper spray into a weapons-grade
Weapons-grade
A weapons-grade substance is one that is pure enough to be used to make a weapon or has properties that make it suitable for weapons use. Weapons-grade plutonium and uranium are the most common examples, but it may also be used to refer to chemical and biological weapons...
material with the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
in the 1980s, said, "I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents."
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. Katehi appeared on CNN shortly after, demonstrating some remorse but ultimately defending her actions. Katehi also called for creation of a task force to review the incident and report their findings and recommendations within 90 days. That evening, approximately 1,000 students and supporters participated in a silent protest against the Chancellor. 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:
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 comprised 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.. Linda Bisson, chair of the Academic Senate called for a faculty investigation, but she believes most faculty want Katehi to stay in her post. .
Lieutenant John Pike and another unnamed UC Davis Police officer were placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident. UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza was later placed on leave as well. 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. Katehi and State Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez requested an outside investigation, and Mark G. Yudof appointed former Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
Chief William J. Bratton
William J. Bratton
William Joseph "Bill" Bratton CBE is an American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department , New York City Police Commissioner, and Boston Police Commissioner....
to head the investigation.
On November 21, Katehi attended a large student protest, and after listening to their statements, said she was there to apologize. 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. 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."
Internet meme
The image of John Pike using his pepper spray has become an internet memeInternet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
. The image has been pasted onto many historically significant works of art, including Trumbull's Declaration of Independence
Trumbull's Declaration of Independence
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence is a 12-by-18-foot oil-on-canvas painting in the United States Capitol Rotunda that depicts the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress...
and the cover of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.