Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi promised to meet more often and with more members of the ϲϿ Davis community at a faculty and staff town hall on Tuesday (Nov. 29), her second such event in the two weeks following the Nov. 18 pepper-spraying incident on the campus Quad.
“Conversations like this one today must be ongoing,” Katehi told an audience of about 500 people at Freeborn Hall. Specifically, she proposed year-round talks with the faculty, to engage in discussion and debate about the challenges of the ϲϿ system in the 21st century.
In addition, Katehi publicly embraced the recommendation of a residence hall advisor that the chancellor also come meet with students in their homes – the campus residence halls. The two women exchanged emails afterward.
During her opening remarks, Katehi once again accepted full responsibility for the events of Nov. 18, when police used pepper spray on demonstrators and arrested 10 people – nine of them students. She vowed to never let something like this happen again, during a one hour, 45-minute-long session where the majority of the 22 audience members praised the chancellor and called on her to reject recent calls for her resignation. Speakers cited her efforts in administrative efficiencies, fund raising and elevating ϲϿ Davis’ reputation.
Walter Leal, a professor of entomology, showed his support with a letter — and said 190 of his Academic Senate colleagues had signed it within 24 hours. The letter states: “We strongly believe that Linda Katehi is well qualified to lead our university through this difficult healing process and oppose the premature calls for her resignation; this is not in the best interest of our university.”
Professor Tilahun Yilma, a distinguished professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, noted how Katehi, soon after coming to ϲϿ Davis in August 2009, met with him and other ϲϿ Davis members of the national academies, to begin a dialogue.
“We’ve been waiting for such a leader for a long time … for me, more than 40 years,” said Yilma, who came to ϲϿ Davis as an undergraduate in 1965.
In her prepared remarks, Katehi acknowledged how the pepper-spraying incident had affected the faculty and staff: “I know how offended you were by what happened on this campus that you all care so deeply about.
“Our faculty and staff work so hard and take such pride in the university and its excellent reputation, not just in California but around the world.
“You are the ones who helped earn that reputation. To see it damaged so quickly is very painful.”
Katehi said the pepper spraying “underscores the urgency of a much larger discussion we need in California about adequate funding for higher education.”
Several speakers agreed, saying the real issue is money.
“Chancellor Katehi is not responsible for the financial problems of the state of California,” said Subhash Mahajan, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. He said the problem began with the tax-limiting Proposition 13 in 1978.
Katehi said the investigations and reviews that have since been launched – five in all – will reveal what happened on Nov. 18 and why. “If safety and security policies need to be changed, they will be changed,” she said. “Whoever needs to be held accountable, will be.”
But, to move forward now, she laid out five steps. In addition to the year-round talks with faculty, she also asked for faculty and staff to help her launch:
• Conflict Resolution Council — A proposal “to identify the tools we need to help ϲϿ Davis resolve conflicts in accordance with our Principles of Community and with who we are as a campus.”
• ϲϿ Davis Tomorrow — A major outreach initiative to parents, “to speak about ϲϿ Davis and reaffirm our values and our strong commitment to education.” ϲϿ Davis Tomorrow would include local visits, online dialogues and social media.
• Major outreach to donors — “To re-emphasize the need to support ϲϿ Davis so we can provide support to our students, faculty and programs.”
• Campus review of policies and practices regarding law enforcement — Katehi said she had asked Vice Chancellors John Meyer and Fred Wood to lead this initiative, which will include recommendations and responses from the other reviews and investigations of the pepper-spraying incident. Meyer heads Administrative and Resource Management (including the campus Police Department); Wood heads Student Affairs.
Katehi reiterated the university’s “obligation to keep our campus safe and peaceful for all of our students, faculty and staff.”
“We have an equal obligation to make sure students, faculty and staff can protest peacefully if they desire.”
Katehi said students “know it is not right to simply keep raising tuition and cutting programs to help the Legislature balance its budget.”
“After all, that is what the students were protesting about in the first place. They know they cannot afford to be left behind and be priced out of the education they need. I agree with them 100 percent and I know that you do, too.”
Katehi recounted her advocacy efforts in Sacramento, Washington, D.C., in the news media, to the general public, to donors “and to anyone who will listen.”
Ralph J. Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor, said no one is a more dedicated advocate for the university than the chancellor: “I’ve witnessed firsthand her deep and energetic commitment to Davis, and to the best interests for our community.”
The provost, who listed the five ongoing investigations and reviews of the Nov. 18 event, emphasized that he and other university administrators “know how strong our community’s concerns are about such issues as tuition increases and the responsibilities of a public university – and now, we’ve seen how much can go wrong when we allow ourselves to turn from dialogue to confrontation.”
The chancellor said she would continue to fight for more support for ϲϿ Davis and higher education in California “until we are successful.”
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Mitchel Benson, (530) 752-9844, mdbenson@ucdavis.edu