They’re fighting for education
I, along with many others, have been shocked by the callous and systematic way in which students engaged in nonviolent protest were treated with pepper spray in the face because they did not move from a sidewalk.
We have been told by the chief of campus police that the officers were motivated by fear. If fears motivated this action, then those fears need to be examined to see where they come from and addressed constructively.
Others have suggested these actions are “standard procedure” for protests. We had better examine these “standards” as a community and reject them as a method for dealing with nonviolent protest. No one was at risk here by the protesters.
The protesters are fighting for public higher education that is not priced out of reach for most Californians. We could lose an entire educational system by slowly strangling it financially through further cuts in the state budget. Even now, more tuition hikes are being considered.
What do we value in our society? Do we let basic public health programs and public higher education die because some people don’t want to pay taxes for it? While we examine our fears and “standards,” maybe we should examine what our civilization is worth, and what we are willing to do to keep it.
Pat Moore-Pickett
Davis
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=108485
View this story on page A6
Posted by Letters to the Editor
on Nov 28 2011.
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