UC Davis Chancellor apologizes but will not resign

If you missed the chilling video of police pepper spraying peaceful protesters at UC Davis last week, you can catch it in the clip above. UC Davis Chancellor Katehi has apologized for the actions of the police and wants a full investigation of what happened. Despite calls for her resignation, Katehi will not resign, but says she is committed to making sure this doesn’t happen again. She also put the police chief on leave. In the above interview, it is clear her apology is tinged with a clear frustration at the avenues protesters are taking on campus–peaceful, non-violent, public demonstrations.

I don’t really think it matters what her opinion is on the avenues protesters are taking in expressing their (completely rightful) rage at the state of the California university system–which has been subject to drastic cutbacks in the last few years. What is captured on the video above is an appalling misuse of power and completely unjustified.

I have said this before, and I’ll say it again. I don’t give a shit what your political affiliation is or what your beef might be with the global #OWS protests–if we claim to be a democracy, we have to protect the rights of everyone to assemble in public peaceful without being brutalized by the police. This message is not really coming through loud and clear as incident after incident of police brutality comes out.

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