Katehi not of Aggie family
Linda Katehi is quoted as feeling ‘saddened’ at the police action on the Davis campus. In letters, students, faculty, citizens and alumni have universally avoided ‘sad’ and instead found meaningful adjectives to explain emotions triggered by the brutal pepper spraying of non-violent student protesters: appalled, enraged, grief-stricken, angry, amazed, disbelieving, to name a few.
Some called the video and still pictures “iconic.” Here’s what iconic means to me, a student of the sixties, UCD alumna and 30+ staff member of this campus: Kent State. A flower in a gun barrel. Mei Lei. And most chilling of all . . . (in black and white) Nazi Germany. Frankly, words fail me and I can barely breathe watching ‘just following orders’ torture.
Our quadrangle centered grief for John F. Kennedy and for his brother Robert. Nelson Mandela spoke here, as did Jane Fonda. Open dissent used to be welcome at UC Davis until this chancellor ordered otherwise. She is not of our Aggie family, apparently not understanding that it is an honor to lead, not a power-driven privilege. Shame on you and your minions – they acted for your corporate-driven, we-they mentality. In the past, ‘we’ included the administration. Frankly, even your apology would not be believed.
P.S. To the Amazing Aggies who formed the silent walk-of-shame on Saturday – kudos! JFK said in 1962, “Those who make peaceful protest impossible, make violent protest inevitable.” Your maturity was palpable.
Mary Shields Sprifke ’65
Davis
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=107598
View this story on page A6
Posted by Letters to the Editor
on Nov 21 2011.
Last Login:
Filed under Letters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
