11 p.m. update: Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi tonight (Nov. 18) issued a statement addressing the removal of tents from the Quad earlier in the day.
In a series of protests this week, students and others rallied on the Quad, spent a night in Mrak Hall and then set up tents back on the Quad, demonstrating against tuition increases and budget cuts, and — echoing the national “occupy” movement — capitalism.
The protests went off without incident. They started Tuesday afternoon, with a crowd of several hundred people on the Quad. Dozens then marched to Mrak Hall, where about 50 people spent the night. Thursday brought another protest on the Quad, again drawing several hundred people, many of whom marched through the Memorial Union and Wellman Hall before returning to the Quad where, at midafternoon, the tents went up.
The tents remained as of this morning (Nov. 18), although officials had notified the tent community the afternoon before that overnight camping was not permitted.
As the week’s protests went on, life and learning continued as usual across most of the campus, for the vast majority of students, faculty and staff, with officials working to maintain a safe environment.
“We have a responsibility to maintain a secure place for our students to learn, and for our faculty and staff to provide the excellent education we are known for,” Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi said.
Katehi: We understand your frustration
She said the university understands the frustration of students and faculty over tuition increases and budget cuts — no different than what is happening across the nation amid the economic downtown.
But, while the university respects everyone’s right to free speech, she said, “we also expect our students, faculty and staff to behave with civility and appropriately in keeping with the Principles of Community.”
Tuesday afternoon, in the Mrak Hall lobby, the protesters held an orderly “general assembly,” eventually deciding to stay past the building’s normal closing time of 5 p.m. Four police officers and a representative from Student Affairs joined the protesters overnight.
Security concerns Wednesday led to the administration’s decision to close the hall at about 2:30 p.m., when 15 protesters were still occupying the lobby. They left peacefully and voluntarily when police asked them to.
Earlier Wednesday, a number of protesters traveled by bus to San Francisco to join a demonstration in the Financial District. The ϲϿ Board of Regents meeting at ϲϿSF’s Mission Bay campus had been the original target of Wednesday’s protest, but the regents called off the meeting, citing “credible intelligence” of “rogue elements intent on violence and confrontation with ϲϿ public safety officers.” See below for information about the rescheduling of the regents meeting.
Meanwhile, ϲϿ Davis student leaders joined their counterparts from elsewhere in the ϲϿ system in a lobbying effort Wednesday at the Capitol, urging lawmakers to provide more funding to higher education.
ϲϿ President Mark G. Yudof said the Capitol is exactly where people need to direct their anger over the state’s years-long disinvestment in ϲϿ.
“We should stand together in common cause to do everything in our power to convince the state’s political leadership that higher education represents not a cost, but the most enlightened investment any state can make,” Yudof said in a Nov. 16 letter to all students.
Board of Regents meeting
The ϲϿ Office of the President announced a new date of Monday, Nov. 28, for the regents meeting that was to have been held Nov. 16-17.
Officials said the meeting will not be held in a single location, but rather will see regents and staff in four locations — ϲϿ Davis, ϲϿ Merced, ϲϿSF Mission Bay and ϲϿLA — connected by teleconference.
In addition, public comment will run for an hour, instead of 20 minutes. Starting time for public comment is 9 a.m.
The meeting notice (including specific locations on the four campuses) and agenda are available .
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu