Regarding campus police and on-campus demonstrations

12.14.11

(Chancellor Katehi delivered the following address to the Senate Education Committee and Assembly Higher Education Committee Joint Informational Hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 14.)

Thank you Assembly Member Block, Sen. Lowenthal and members for inviting me here to discuss this important topic.

In the interests of being thorough and responsive, I also asked my office to prepare written responses to the questions provided by your staff. And I will do my best to answer any other questions you might have.

As you know, cities and campuses all over America have been struggling with how best to deal with growing protests, trying to strike a balance between protecting free speech and public safety.

As chancellor, as a member of the UC Davis community, as a mother and someone whose job it is to protect the well-being of our students, I was horrified when I saw them hit with pepper spray.

Something went terribly wrong that day, and I look to the investigations under way to find out exactly what happened and provide answers to important questions.

We need to understand why pepper spray was used. We need to know exactly what direction was given to officers in the field. We must determine if officers are trained sufficiently. We need to re-examine our campus policies and practices regarding crowd control and use of force.

And most importantly, we must determine what steps to take so nothing like this happens again.

We all want answers, and no one wants answers more than I do. That’s why I requested independent investigations by the UC Office of the President and our county prosecutor and sheriff’s department. To get all the facts. And to do it in a way that the public and members of the UC Davis community can trust the findings and recommendations.

To protect the objectivity and integrity of these fact-finding investigations, there is not much more I can say about the events of Nov. 18 beyond what I have said already.

But let me be clear: I did not direct the police to use pepper spray.

I did not direct the police to use force.

As chancellor, I am accountable for everything that happens on our campus, and I accept responsibility for this event.

I also accept responsibility for taking corrective action so this does not happen again. I realize it does not undo what happened, but I issued an apology to the students who were pepper sprayed and to our entire UC Davis community.

I asked that charges be dropped, and we have offered to pay medical expenses for anyone injured by the pepper spray. I also have been working around the clock to begin healing and re-uniting our campus.

We have begun an extensive and ongoing dialogue throughout the UC Davis community. I am committed to learning from this event and to making all appropriate reforms.

We heard President Yudof talk about UC’s commitment to free speech and the right to peaceful protest and I could not agree more.

These are fundamental American rights that must be protected. At the same time, running a university requires us to ensure that all members of the campus community can live, learn and work in a safe, secure environment without disruption or intimidation.

Before I conclude my remarks, I would like to address one more point.

We will not do justice to our university or to our state if we allow the events of Nov. 18 to mask the reasons students have been protesting in the first place.

While the images of pepper spray sparked justifiable outrage, the underlying issues go far beyond that one highly regrettable incident. Our students are increasingly frustrated and angry about reductions in state support for higher education. They are frustrated and angry about repeated tuition increases. They are worried about how they will repay their loans and find jobs when they graduate.

They are justifiably frustrated and so am I.

I do not mean to diminish the significance of the pepper spray incident, but we all need to work together to make higher education more affordable and accessible, or there will be continued frustration from students: Both from those who protest, and from those who only want to go to class without distraction.

UC Davis remains a wonderful, strong and peaceful community —an outstanding university with unlimited potential for even greater excellence and leadership in our region, state and nation.

On any given day, we hold nearly 1,000 undergraduate classes with 25,000 undergraduate students. Just last Saturday, we graduated a class of almost 700.

Right now, there are less than a half dozen non-students in a handful of tents on our Quad.

This one incident sparked an undeniable outcry. But it will not define UC Davis. What will define us is our ability to visibly and openly address the issues that led us here.

I am committed to making our campus a place where dissent is respected and acknowledged.

Where diverse opinions find a safe place for debate with the civility our community expects.

And I hope that together we can summon a renewed commitment to reinvest in our colleges, our universities and in our students.

Thank you very much.