TRICKLE DOWN DENIAL … for me, the most telling moment of Chancellor Linda Katehi’s pepper spray testimony before the California Legislature on Wednesday was described thusly by The Enterprise’s Cory Golden: “Katehi declined to discuss the incident in detail or to say whether Vice Chancellor John Meyer, who has authority over campus police, authorized force.” … last one under the bus, please turn off the engine …

A DAY IN THE LIFE … my, has our chancellor’s life changed in one short month … it’s gotten to the point now where I’m certain her first name has been officially changed to “Embattled” … that word seems to precede nearly every mention these days of Linda Katehi … one news outlet ran two photos of Katehi, one in a Capitol hallway where she was “confronted,” according to the caption, and another in a hearing room where she was “comforted” by her husband …

Thus have her days since the pepper spray incident been filled, with a mixture of comfort and confrontation … and all of it keeping her from the vital mission she was hired to perform … and to think, a month ago it seemed like one of the major decisions facing the campus was which way to take its athletic program … that little debate appears to have been placed on the back burner … the way back burner …

YOLO COUNTY HAD IT RIGHT … in a stunning announcement, the state Attorney General’s Office declined to take over Yolo County’s investigation of Peppergate, despite well-reasoned arguments for such a move from both county District Attorney Jeff Reisig and Sheriff Ed Prieto … whether the decision resulted from a lack of resources or a lack of backbone is unclear, but for certain the AG’s Office should have granted Yolo County’s request …

As Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven noted in an email to The Enterprise: “We appreciate the attorney general’s vote of confidence in our ability to competently handle this job, but the fact remains that this issue has far-reaching ramifications and that there are limited resources in Yolo County.” … indeed … this county is lucky to have folks like Jonathan Raven guiding our ship through choppy waters, especially when the state AG refuses to get involved …

HIGH TUITION DOES NOT GUARANTEE GOOD GRAMMAR … according to Cory Golden’s scintillating account of Chancellor Katehi’s appearance before the joint Pepper Spray Committee of the California Legislature, one of the recurring themes of the day was that high tuition leads to student unrest … and until tuition comes down, unrest will remain elevated … “Students aren’t going to just lay down and let this happen,” said one student attending the hearing …

To “lay down,” of course, a student must first secure a quantity of down, preferably from a baby duck, then carefully “lay” it, perhaps on the chilly canvas floor of a tent on the UC Davis Quad … should help to keep everyone warm … or maybe this particular student actually meant “lie” down and is being forced to repeat Bonehead English to learn the difference …

OCCUPY THIS … maybe it’s just me, but when UC Davis fires back up in January and all those angry students return from their far-flung homes for another quarter of protests, everyone should agree right up front that occupying campus buildings is strictly off limits … the courts have consistently ruled that free speech is constrained by time, place and manner … pitching tents in Dutton Hall fails on all three counts …

Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

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