A ring of peaceful Occupiers linked at the arms took hits of pepper spray by officers on the University of California, Davis campus in an effort by the police to break up the movement.
This case of severe police brutality, caught on tape Nov. 18, has evoked an outpouring of outrage from its student and faculty body: students shouting and demonstrating, a letter submitted from its physics department and an announcement posted prominently on the English department’s website, to cite a few examples.
These reverberations of the campus’s sentiments all call for one thing: the resignation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.
As chancellor, Katehi has direct oversight of the UC Davis Police Department, but do the actions of those directly under her necessitate her removal? If she should be removed from her position, would UC Davis have really fixed the root of the problem?
These officers were abhorrently wrong when they chose to abuse their power, but it’s doubtful that Katehi’s orders were meant to specifically pepper spray nonviolent protesters. In fact, in an interview with the Sacramento Bee, she said she gave orders to do quite the opposite, to remove tents and equipment “peacefully.”
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The root of this incident stems from the individual officers who grossly misinterpreted orders. It was the right move to put the campus’ police chief and two UC Davis officers on administrative leave the Monday after the pepper spraying occurred. Better yet, an inquiry into the offense will be led by former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, to be reviewed by a university task force.
Katehi may be the head honcho, but her resignation would not the serve the purpose it intends; she isn’t the one directing orders to individual officers. Besides, if every administrative leader was ousted for every wrongdoing of those working under him or her, the turnover rate for these positions would be astronomical.
Katehi is responsible for how the UC Davis Police Department conducts itself, but when it comes to cases like these, you need to look at the people standing behind the canister, not those two steps removed.
