The Final Call

Students seek answers after university leader speaks

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A handout photograph released Nov. 21 by Jasna Hodzic of The California Aggie shows University of California at Davis Police in riot gear pepper spray seated peaceful protesters Nov. 18. The protest was held in support and solidarity of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement. Ten people were arrested and nine students hit by pepper spray were treated at the scene. The UC Davis police chief and two offi cers were placed on administrative leave as a task force is called to investigate the incident. Photo: EPA/JASNA HODZIC / THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT JASNA HODZIC/ The California Aggie

Video footage of Lt. John Pike and another officer casually spraying an orange cloud at the protesters as they sat peacefully on the ground began circulating online Friday night Nov. 18. Students gathered on campus Nov. 22 for the second time in two days to condemn the violence. They also urged university officials to require police to attend sensitivity training.

Chancellor Linda Katehi, who has faced criticism from students, faculty and staff in recent days, told some 1,000 students gathered in an auditorium that she asked police to remove tents from the university’s quad but did not direct them to forcibly remove the demonstrators.

“I explicitly directed the chief of police that violence should be avoided at all costs,” she said. “It was the absolute last thing I ever wanted to happen.”

She stressed that students have a right to demonstrate peacefully.

“Because encampments have long been prohibited by UC policy, I directed police only to take down the tents,” she said. “My instructions were for no arrests and no police force.”

Yet not all students who attended the town hall in a performing arts complex were satisfied with the response from Chancellor Katehi.

Puneet Kamal, 22, was among those lined up to ask questions Nov. 22.

“She didn’t say ‘I’m sorry that I did this, or I’m sorry I made this call,’ ” said the environmental science and policy major. “She said ‘I’m sorry that this situation had to happen.’ Where’s the blame going to?”

Natalie Poulton, 20, a communications major, said Chancellor Katehi has not fully explained what she knew in advance about the police plans for clearing out protesters.

“I want more answers,” said Ms. Poulton. “She totally didn’t explain if there was a miscommunication with the cops and what exactly happened in terms of the higher-ups.”

Lt. Pike, another officer and the campus police chief have been placed on paid administrative leave in the wake of the incident at the 32,000-student campus that lies west of the state capital. The school is the third most populous in the UC system behind the campuses in Los Angeles and Berkeley.

Lt. Pike, 39, is a retired Marine sergeant who has been honored for his police work on campus but also figured in a discrimination lawsuit against the university.

He has twice been honored by the university for exceptional police work, including a 2006 incident in which he tackled a scissor-wielding hospital patient who was threatening fellow officers. Afterward, he said he decided against using pepper spray because it might harm his colleagues or other hospital patients.

But an alleged anti-gay slur by Lt. Pike also figured in a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit a former police officer filed against the department, which ended in a $240,000 settlement in 2008. Officer Calvin Chang’s 2003 discrimination complaint against the university’s police chief and the UC Board of Regents alleged he was systematically marginalized as the result of anti-gay and racist attitudes on the force, and he specifically claimed Lt. Pike described him using a profane anti-gay epithet.

Lt. Pike did not immediately return a message left Nov. 21 at a home address listed in Roseville, a Sacramento suburb. It was not immediately known whether he had hired an attorney.

Dieter Dammeier, an Upland lawyer for the Federated University Police Officers Association, the union that represents UC Davis officers, said the operations plan issued by the department includes the use of pepper spray. Mr. Dammeier said he does not represent Mr. Pike because the lieutenant is in a management position in the department, while the union represents the rank-and-file.

“The officers were doing simply what they were instructed to do by upper management there,” Mr. Dammeier said, referring to police, not university, management. “So the officers are getting beat up pretty good out there, but they were simply doing what they were instructed to do.”

The administrator who oversees campus policing said the force has wide discretion in deciding how to respond to specific circumstances.

State lawmakers announced Nov. 21 that they would hold a hearing on the pepper-spraying incident. Assembly Speaker John Perez sent a letter to the University of California Board of Regents chairwoman Sherry Lansing and UC President Mark Yudof asking for a system-wide investigation.

“Students, parents and the public deserve to have answers to the myriad of troubling questions these incidents have raised,” Mr. Perez, D-Los Angeles, said in a statement.

President Yudof later announced he had appointed former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton to review the UC Davis incident and provide “an independent, unvarnished report about what happened.”

He also appointed the university’s general counsel and the UC Berkeley law school dean to examine police protocols and policies at all 10 UC campuses, including discussions with students, faculty and staff.

Chancellor Katehi has already asked the Yolo County district attorney’s office to investigate, and Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven confirmed the department will look into the matter.

Attorney General Kamala Harris was deeply disturbed by the videos of the incident, spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill said.

“She’s confident they will conduct a quick and thorough investigation of the matter,” spokeswoman Gledhill said.

On Nov. 21, about 50 tents formed an encampment on the site where the pepper-spraying happened as students went about going to class. During her address during the evening town hall, Chancellor Katehi said she sympathized with the feelings that are leading students to protest.

“I understand the frustration and anger students are feeling right now,” she said. “Our economy is in poor shape, employment prospects are the worst in decades and tuition has been increased a number of times.”

(Burke reported from San Francisco.)