In an interview this morning on KQED's Forum, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi said she expected campus police on Friday to remove tents peacefully without interfering with students' rally.
Katehi said that under UC policy, tents are not allowed on campus "for health and safety reasons." She said police were asked to dismantle the encampment out of concern for the safety of the students.
"The group that set this up was not UC Davis students," she said. "They had individuals that were not affiliated with the campus. The police were called for nothing else but a very peaceful dismantling of the equipment...They were not supposed to use force.They were not supposed to limit the students from having the rally, from congregating to express their anger and frustration."
She called the police actions on Internet videos over the weekend "unacceptable," "horrific" and "disheartening."
While even if technically the use of pepper spray fell "within police code," she said, "it was an unacceptable decision to use that type of force on students who were quietly sitting."
"As an educator, as a human being... I was filled with outrage and sadness. It was horrible what I saw. I really need to understand ....why this thing went so wrong. We really need to try to take action to make the appropriate correction to make sure that that never happens again. Beyond that, we need to bring the campus together."
Katehi said that as chancellor she takes responsbility "for everything that happens on this campus.
"At the same, our campus has policies...to really make sure sure 32,000 students who are using our campus are safe."
Hear the complete interview:
Editor's Note: This post has been corrected to quote Katehi as saying the use of pepper spray was "unacceptable."
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