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Protesters surround building, chancellor stays inside for three hours
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi remained inside Surge II for nearly three hours Saturday after hundreds of protesters surrounded the building, interrupting her news conference about the pepper-spraying of protesters by campus police the day before.
Protesters showed up minutes after the 4 p.m. conference began. Their voices could be heard within the building.
Many of those who had gathered outside said they believed Katehi did not give the UCD community sufficient notice and that the choice of venue was unfair because it did not permit the general public inside.
“After what happened yesterday, everyone is really, really angry,” said Steve Cox, a UCD graduate student. “It’s kind of unfair for her to hold a press conference in a really small venue with very short notice to try to exclude the student body. We have just as much of a right to be there as anybody and she needs to answer to us.”
The protesters formed lines leading away from the building, leaving a pathway to permit the chancellor’s exit, but the chancellor did not leave immediately following the conference.
“It didn’t seem like we would be allowed to leave,” said Mitchell Benson, assistant vice chancellor for university communications. “There was quite a loud, and I would hazard to say, hostile crowd outside both of the doors of the building and it didn’t seem that she would be able to get out in a safe manner, so she stood put for a couple of hours.”
While protesters chanted outside for, among other things, her resignation, Katehi stayed inside.
“I didn’t have a sense that it was an appropriate atmosphere or an appropriate environment to walk out of the building at that time,” Mitchel continued. “There was no rush to leave.”
The protesters, however, felt that they were acting peacefully. According to several protesters, they wanted to show their disapproval of the chancellor’s decision to have the students removed from the Quad the day before.
“We are here at this point to put bodies and faces to the emotion and the shock that was felt yesterday,” said Bob Blaine, a graduate of Cal State Sonoma, “and basically to not let her leave or come onto campus without knowing that she’s pissed off a lot of people here.”
Cox wanted to make it clear that they were not trying to keep the chancellor from leaving.
“We’re not barring the doors and keeping her in there,” he said. “We’re OK with her leaving, all she has to do is walk past us. We’ve already agreed on both sides to link arms and leave a path for her to leave, but she doesn’t want to walk out.”
Several representatives of the protesting group entered Surge II to discuss terms on which the chancellor could peacefully and safely leave.
At about 7 p.m. both parties came to an agreement.
Katehi emerged a few minutes later to a line of protesters running all the way down the building’s parking lot out onto Hutchinson Road.
Katehi, accompanied by several of her staff members, walked in silence to her car, got in and left.
While a few police officers could be seen about a block away, they kept their distance and never made contact with protesters during the incident.
— Reach Tom Sakash at tsakash@davisenterprise.net or (530) 747-8057. Follow him on Twitter @TomSakash
Tom Sakash
Discussion | 20 comments
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RyanNovember 20, 2011 - 4:10 am
Go ucd students! Now you know who the real american terrorists are. They have badges not turbans here. The cops should be arrested and sent to guantanamo bay to get a taste of their own medicine. Send the monster chanceller who ordered this on her non violent students as well. Then make it uc policy that the terrorists, the cops, can not be called unless a student is violent. Or you can let this and worse happen again and again. Will you wait until they start shooting students in the back of the head before you act? For reference, see anti-flag (fight back) ~go freedom!
Reply |Sunday links. « Fred KlonskyNovember 20, 2011 - 7:42 am
[...] UC Davis students make University Chancellor do a perp walk. Following the national outrage at police pepper spraying non-violent student protesters, Chancellor Katehi first hides in her office, then walks to her car past hundreds of silent students. Amazing. [...]
Reply |JimNovember 20, 2011 - 7:42 am
The call for Chancellor Katehi's removal is misguided and narrow-minded. The police don't work for her and she didn't order them to utilize pepper spray. She has a responsibility to everyone at Davis, not just those sympathetic to the protestors. That's why she asked for police intervention. The police are the ones who over-reacted.
Reply |JDWNovember 20, 2011 - 10:00 am
Ah, Jim. Katehi blew it, big time. Further, whether you think the blame is misplaced or not, she can't possibly keep her job. No one, save you and a few other perhaps, has any confidence in that woman, in that job. Not now, not anymore. And her handling since of what happened on the quad has been, frankly, cowardly and pathetic. She can't be sleeping too well.
Reply |patNovember 20, 2011 - 10:36 am
How can anyone believe this Greek woman, not even a US citizen,making $324,000,00 a year plus benefits AND gives away up to $40-50 million per year in research grants(from our taxes!!!) would try to protect our kids and not her own self interest and the corporate cronies she so generously gives our money to..., It's even worse to think she wasn't even present, didn't care enough to come out and observe the situation before requesting armed policemen to take on the unarmed,peaceful student protesters. SHAME ON YOU KATEHI> So THIS HOW IT"S DONE IN GREECE? the country without an elected head-of-state in 2011 and no referendums for your citizens!
Reply |Liveblogging the November 18 UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident « Student ActivismNovember 20, 2011 - 9:48 am
[...] Update | In an extraordinary display of chutzpah, the UC Davis assistant vice chancellor for university communications Mitchell Benson tells the [...]
Reply |ml1999November 20, 2011 - 12:17 pm
Can you please state the source that says she is not an American citizen? Protesters prohibit the police from leaving, and then are surprised when there is a consequence. Interesting. Ah, well, 3 months in, and these folks still don't know what they are protesting for. Has the Enterprise learned how many of these protesters are Anarchists or professional rabble rousers?
Reply |S MannersNovember 21, 2011 - 6:24 am
Ml1999, you ask for a reference on the chancellor's citizenship. I ask you for a reference that the police were not allowed to leave. Would that be the UCD police chief'? You believe her? I certainly don't. The video clearly shows a police car just yards from the police on campus and no students blocking access to it. It is hard to believe you or anyone else support actions such as those by the police or the thin rationalizations by the chancellor and the police chief. UCD students should not rest until the two officers, the UCD police chief and the chancellor lose their jobs without a big golden parachute.
Reply |ucdstudentNovember 20, 2011 - 12:42 pm
I could not have been happier with the police actions. These protesters are a drain on society and a waste of a student at UCD. They had every opportunity to leave and chose to get sprayed in the face. I hope this was a wake up call and hopefully they will stop living off daddy’s paycheck and go get a job.
Reply |Carla L.November 23, 2011 - 12:22 am
Many of the students are borrowing money and going into debt to get an education, therefore, they are perfectly justified in getting upset over the 81% tuition increase. It will be hard enough to pay off the debt they've already incurred, let along a sizable increase in that amount. I seriously doubt you are a "ucdstudent," and if you are, you certainly have money to burn if you can afford that increase. And anyone who thinks you can just go "get a job" in this economy has no clue what it's like out in the job market right now.
Reply |Sandy V.November 20, 2011 - 12:55 pm
Annette M: I have noticed some strange posts that don't really have a point except to get emotions to run high--not really focusing on anything else. Just slovenly comments. Weird. Like ml199 says anarchists..
Reply |Liveblogging the November 18 UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident | 100wizard News SiteNovember 20, 2011 - 2:30 pm
[...] Update | in an extraordinary display of chutzpah, the UC Davis assistant vice chancellor for university communications Mitchell Benson tells the [...]
Reply |ml1999November 20, 2011 - 2:46 pm
Lots of those young people there don't like like UCD students.
Reply |UC Davis police placed on leave after pepper spray video outrage | Fresh Hot News | ZoomNews.infoNovember 20, 2011 - 3:00 pm
[...] for three hours, as hundreds of students surrounded it. A university official accompanying Ketehi told the Davis Enterprise that he believed the crowd was hostile and that she would not be able to leave [...]
Reply |UC Davis police placed on leave after pepper spray video outrage | Rubytall NewsNovember 20, 2011 - 3:38 pm
[...] for three hours, as hundreds of students surrounded it. A university official accompanying Ketehi told the Davis Enterprise that he believed the crowd was hostile and that she would not be able to leave [...]
Reply |Communicating with pepper spray - Intro To Business - Global Economic Crisis: Cengage Resource CenterNovember 21, 2011 - 12:52 am
[...] according to the Davis Enterprise, Chancellor Katehi refused to meet with students. Instead, she issued a prepared statement to [...]
Reply |Liveblogging the November 18 UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident | My BlogNovember 21, 2011 - 7:34 am
[...] Update | In an unusual arrangement of chutzpah, a UC Davis assistant clamp chancellor for university communications Mitchell Benson tells a [...]
Reply |» On the power of images » Blog ArchiveNovember 21, 2011 - 8:22 am
[...] And the silent protest of students who lined the path of UC Davis Linda Chancellor as she walked to her car. [...]
Reply |01010101November 21, 2011 - 6:30 pm
racism against Dr Katehi (if not sexism) from the poor whitey babies---mostly humanities/history skank who don't know a derivative from their diapers. she isn't a cop and had little or no control over them.
Reply |UC Davis police placed on leave after pepper spray video outrage « The Richard Reynolds BlogDecember 03, 2011 - 6:38 am
[...] for three hours, as hundreds of students surrounded it. A university official accompanying Ketehi told the Davis Enterprise that he believed the crowd was hostile and that she would not be able to leave [...]
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