At Monday's Regents meeting, Mark Yudof holds a giant copy of the ReFund California Pledge. It is apparently too big for the UC Regents to sign. But they were able to give some administrators pay raises.

Students Protesting at UCLA

Despite the Regents' absurd attempt to limit speakers to 60 seconds each (and the even more absurd rule penalizing people who wanted to pool their time to allow for more thorough statements), students, staff, faculty, alumni, and ex-Regents all seized the public comment period at this morning's Regents Meeting to make a series of important democratic points.

Running throughout the comments were at least 2 overriding messages:

1) That the time was long past for UCOP and the Regents to think that expressions of regret or surprise were enough: if words are not followed up by concrete actions they will seem little but efforts to divert attention from the University's real problems

and

2) That the administration (especially UCOP) and the Regents have lost their legitimacy within the University...  And it is up to UCOP and the Regents to prove that they deserve to have that legitimacy back.

Speakers made these points clear through a series of interlocking points.

9:18 president yudof speaking. Claims that due to ucop cuts and efficiencies if the state gives back some funding there will not be tuition. Not sure how he figures that. Then assures us all that we are all on the same side and he wants to protect dissent.

9:20 student regent speaking. Wanted part of meetng at davis so students could be heard. But there were few regents at dsvis to avoid large police presence. Asks students to speak. Student regents horrified by police actions at davis and berkeley. Acknowledges passion of protesters. Student regents moving on legislative front. "world is with students." But mist remain non-violent.

9:24. Speaker Perez speaking. Appalled by the police action. "unacceptable police response." police undermined claim to believe in first amendment. Were the police acting within policy? "inspired" by student response. Bratton commission cannot address the issue of the broader question of why students are protesting. Recent state budgets have lost sight of core values. Opposes the whole idea of tuition. Should only be old fees not an embrace of the notion of tuition. Pledges to work for more progressive tax system and use extra resources to fully fund higher ed. Thanks the students.

Uncivil Procedure has posted Behind the Curtain:  their analysis of the history of police violence at Berkeley over the last several years.

Here is the final version of the proposed Berkeley Senate Resolution condemning the recent police violence on campus.

When Altegrity hired Bill Bratton.  A little context.

A Petition has been started demanding that President Yudof withdraw his appointment of Bratton to head investigation.

Will Los Angeles' deadline for the removal of Occupy LA create a crisis where there was none?

Reclaiming the First Amendment.

In light of all of the intersecting Police Work here is the ACLU's warning about "Fusion Centers."

Update: Patricia Williams wonders if we have lost the right to privacy outside our homes.

Update: Just for the record we are relinking Dave Zirin's article on Penn State and Davis.

Update: Edley's Allies?  How online companies are trying to seize control of K-12 education.

by Catherine M. Cole, Professor of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, UC Berkeley

Violence breeds violence. And that's why we must never tolerate violence at the university.

UC Berkeley’s recent pattern of violence started on November 20, 2009. The perpetrators were heavily armed police who assaulted unarmed bystanders located in a zone of free speech. These bystanders--unlike those who seized rooms in Wheeler Hall--were not doing anything illegal at all.

The Police Review Board’s (PRB) investigation into this incident should be read by all Berkeley faculty and Administrators:

The PRB report presented two overlapping theories of what went wrong that day.

SOME DAVIS FACULTY GROUPS CALL FOR CHANCELLOR'S RESIGNATION

English Department  (Wa Po coverage)
Physics Department (partial)
Davis Faculty Association Board

The overall petition for Chancellor Katehi's resignation is  nearing 100,000 signatures.
The Davis Enterprise has an Occupy Davis timeline


UC FACULTY STATEMENTS

UC Academic Council (Robert Anderson to Mark Yudof)
UCD's Nathan Brown (Katehi Must Resign) Rally Speech Nov 21
UCD's Cynthia Carter Ching (We Faculty Let Students Down)
UCI Academic Senate Chair Craig Martens 
UCLA English Dept (Solidarity with UC Berkeley English)
UCLA Faculty United (On Removal of Occupy UCLA)
UC Merced Academic Senate Chair Susan Amussen
UCSD Faculty Association (Power of Collective Action)
UCSB Faculty (Letter to Chancellor Yang - Renounce Police Response)
UCSC Academic Senate (Statement; also Chair Susan Gillman on "Rebenching" as an underlying protest issue)
UCSC Graduate Student Association (Demonstration in Support of UC Davis faculty 11/28)

SUPPORTING STATEMENTS FROM OFF-CAMPUS GROUPS

AAUP
California Scholars for Academic Freedom
CUCFA (petition version),
Middle Eastern Studies Association
USC Faculty Statement on UC Police Conduct

Chancellor Katehi insists that the police were told not to use violence.  Many remain unconvinced. 

Occupy UC Davis remaining over Thanksgiving Break.

The Agenda is up for Monday's now you see us now you don't Regents meeting.  The Committee on Finance will be shaping the future in under 2 hours.

Dave Zirin in the Nation lays out further intersections between the scandals at Penn State and at Davis.  It turns out that President Spanier and Chancellor Katehi were both involved in the "National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, which 'promotes discussion and outreach between research universities and the FBI.'”

David Simpson writes on the recent events at UC Davis in light of the larger transformations in policing and America's political culture.

Occupy Davis continues:  and they are getting even better organized!

At Berkeley, student sets up tent and silent vigil on lawn of Chancellor's house.

Crank up the damage control: UC President Mark Yudof appoints William J. Bratton, former chief of NYPD and LAPD to review UC police procedures and to report in a month.

Yudof also appointed a systemwide policy review panel, to be headed by UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr.

UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi now says police defied her orders when they used pepper spray. UC Davis police chief blames pepper sprayer Lt. Pike.  Students are not impressed.  See Katehi's speech to students on Monday, and UC Davis's California Professor coverage, e.g. "What Katehi didn't say."

Meanwhile, Lt Pike's fame grows and grows.  He is now the most viewed pepper sprayer in world history.  See the piece linked also linked above for Pike's mixed record as a UC cop.  On the other hand, kudos are offered UC Davis police by a reader in Bakersfield.

UC Davis had a strong turnout for the tuition protests in November of 2009.  I don't think it has every seen crowds like the 5000 on Monday (h/t CA Prof), and may never be the same again. It is now on the global protest map (e.g. Sueddeutsche), has a range of strong and militant voices, and has a growing reputation for protest ingenuity as can be heard in various call-outs to the police in the lead-up to the pepper-spraying.

Update:  The debate continues to grow on the spread of the use of Pepper Spray to subdue protests.  Even the originator of the technique has his doubts.

Update:  Linda Lye points out that "Police crackdowns on Occupy camps are real threat" to democracy, and public health and safety.

Update: State Board forces out President at University of Oregon.  He wanted too much autonomy and also gave faculty raises.  Faculty and Students are dismayed.

Update: Faculty and Students at UCLA's English Department have sent a letter of solidarity to their comrades at Berkeley.

Update: UCSD Students Mic Check Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.

DAVIS: THE CRISIS CONTINUED

Pepper Spray Off Campus: Letter Calling for Chancellor Katehi to resign. And Facebook page.  Katehi addresses campus as outrage grows.  Audience unconvinced.

UC Davis Student Leaders condemn use of pepper spray.

UC Davis Strike Call.

UCLA Faculty Open Letter on Police Violence.  The Daily Bruin has more.

"The Turning Point": On the example of UC Davis Students.

Cynthia Carter Ching: An Open Letter to Students and Faculty.

Civil Libertarians and experts on Campus Policing appalled by recent UC Behavior.

"An Internet Meme": UC Davis's Lt. Pike plays various  Masters of the Universe.

Is the First Amendment only important in other countries?

UCSB Faculty Letter on UC Davis Police Violence

UPDATE: Yudof to convene Chancellors.
Academic Council Letter to President Yudof

STRUGGLES OVER FREEDOM OF SPEECH AT UC CAMPUSES CONTINUE

After expressions of outrage, Chancellor Katehi begins to walk back her statements on Police Pepper Spray.  The SacBee has more details.

Students impose silent criticism.  More here.

Robert Haas points out that UCPD has given new meaning to the term "beat poets."

Davis Faculty Association calls for Katehi's resignation.

The Council of UC Faculty Associations Calls for an end to the violence against protesters.

DAVIS DECIDES TO COMPETE WITH BERKELEY NOT ONLY FOR STUDENTS BUT IN POLICE VIOLENCE

Uc Davis Police Pepper Spray Peaceful Students.  

The Sac Bee has the story.  So does the SF Chronicle.  So does the Huffington Post.  Not to mention Salon.

Chancellor Katehi tries to Justify Police Actions.  Nathan Brown points out that her response doesn't make sense and calls for her resignation. Firedoglake picks up the story.

Is Berkeley Moving Backwards?  "Our Campus is Not a War Zone": An Open Letter to Birgenau.

Nicole LIndahl, Berkeley Law, describes her first direct experience with police brutality at Occupy Cal.

The petition calling on senior officials at UC Berkeley to resign has over a thousand signatures. 

UC police attack more tents, the revolutionary symbol of our time, in a pre-dawn raid at UCLA.

President Mark Yudof "unequivocally support[s] students' right to protest peacefully."

There is no news of disciplinary action for the UC police who prevented students from protesting peacefully.

Cal State Trustees flee meeting room: still vote to increase Fees by 9%.

Student Regent speaks out against the postponement of this week's Regents meeting.

LAO predicts low revenue:  Huge budget cuts are on the way.  LAO estimates up to 2 Billion in cuts.  Dan Mitchell looks down the road at the likely effects.

Huge Protests at UC Berkeley.  Here is a slideshow.  General Assembly votes to rebuild encampment.  Here was a live blog.  Protests across the CSU and UC systems: UC Davis with a slideshow.  Occupy Northridge.

Robert Reich: "The Days of Apathy are Over." With Video.  Even NPR realized it was important.

Day of Action Live Blog November 15th (Daily Cal)
Regents' cancellation coverage: LA Times; San Jose Mercury News (with UCPD chief quote that the protesters "chose physical confrontation")
Regents Cancellation doesn't slow protests at UC and CSU.
NBC LA says "leave the powerless Regents alone"
Occupy Student Debt
Decade-old decline in Illinois college attainment, which once led the country (Penn study).
Washington governor proposes an additional 15% cut for state's higher education system
Mayors coordinated on how to move against Occupations in their cities.  NYPD moved against press as well as protesters.  Was the Federal Government part of the planning?
Large Protests and Open University at Berkeley.
Occupy Movement spreading on California Campuses.

The following is a resolution--drafted by members of the Berkeley faculty--to be presented for a vote at the Berkeley Academic Senate Meeting November 28th.

REGENTS POSTPONE THIS WEEK'S MEETING   
Skepticism is expressed about the official explanation of cancellation


Occupy Cal call for Tuesday's strike and other actions.  Further Information can be found here.
 CFA on the CSU November 17th Strikes.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau describes November 9 video of police attack on protesters "very disturbing"

By Celeste Langan

I participated in the Occupy Cal rally on Sproul Plaza on November 9 (my sign, "We're Afraid for Virginia Woolf," made it to the Daily Cal’s top 10) and stayed for the general assembly. The organizers of Occupy Cal asked those who were willing to stay and link arms to protect those who were attempting to set up the encampment; I chose to do so. I knew, both before and after the police gave orders to disperse, that I was engaged in an act of civil disobedience. I want to stress both of those words: I knew I would be disobeying the police order, and therefore subject to arrest; I also understood that simply standing, occupying ground, and linking arms with others who were similarly standing, was a form of non-violent, hence civil, resistance. I therefore anticipated that the police might arrest us, but in a similarly non-violent manner. When the student in front of me was forcibly removed, I held out my wrist and said "Arrest me! Arrest me!" But rather than take my wrist or arm, the police grabbed me by my hair and yanked me forward to the ground, where I was told to lie on my stomach and was handcuffed. The injuries I sustained were relatively minor--a fat lip, a few scrapes to the back of my palms, a sore scalp--but also unnecessary and unjustified.

Toby Higbie's account of UCLA's November 9th protest is below.   With additional links 1.

• 
  
• Video on Occupy Cal and the General Assembly.  Good discussion, very large crowds.
• The Occupy Cal General Assembly called for a general strike (education sector) for this Tuesday, November 15th.  The strike is " in opposition to the cuts to public education, university privatization, and the indebting of our generation."
• The UC Davis Faculty Association has endorsed the OccupyCal strike call.
• In an open letter to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, Teachers at UC Berkeley condemn police violence.  

By Rei Terada

In March 2010, about a thousand people at UC Irvine marched here and on the street, on University Avenue. I was amused that a couple of commentators wrote afterward that UCI students were “protesting reality.” Someone headlined a blog for The Atlantic, “Students Protest University Cutbacks, Reality”. This remark assumes that once reality has been determined, you have no right to say anything further. That assumption can be refuted in a number of ways, even if—and that’s an “if”—we don’t dispute the amount of the state budget shortfall since the recession of 2008. First of all, anyone who cares about reality should always ask, what makes the reality the way it is? What are the conditions on which reality depends? That is the question known as “critique,” and critique is the mainstay of the Enlightenment education that Universities historically support.

Penn State students riot for football coach fired in coaching staff molestation scandal (grand jury report).  The Nation follows up with a comparison of Berkeley and Penn State.

Crowds at Occupy Cal - Daily Cal Coverage.  Mercury News coverage with photos. SF Chronicle story and slideshow.  The AtlanticWire has a digest of news coverage.
.
Occupy Santa Cruz.  Occupy UCLA. Occupy UC Irvine, Occupy San Diego  

And here is a first-hand report from Irvine:

Report from Irvine by anonymous
"We had a spirited teach-in and march in which about 400 participated, followed by a General Assembly in front of the administration building. TA and lecturer union reps, librarians, queer student groups, graduate and undergraduate students, and faculty spoke at the teach-in. Between the teach-in and the GA the students marched into ongoing classes and through the science library and the UCI bookstore. They chanted "Students' needs, not corporate greed" and "Educate, Occupy. Take back UCI." The OC Register has of course written us up with special attention to our profanity. (At one station of the march, a student began his speech with "My name is Alexander, I'm a student here and I'm fucking pissed off!")" 

Berkeley City Council has decided not to renew mutual aid agreements with UCPD and neighboring police forces in aftermath of recent police violence.  h/t CC

Thousands March in London.

OWS and the Reeducation of Desire.

Students, staff, and faculty engaged in protest across the UC and CSU systems today.  So far I've tracked reports from Berkeley, Channel Islands, Davis, Fresno,  Irvine, Long Beach Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma State.  I'm sure there will be more news as time goes forward.

Protests in London.  Surprise, Surprise, the Police were there as well.

CSU threatens to raise tuition next year by 9%.

Yudof starts to walk back early reports of tuition freeze. Now it depends on receiving large infusion from the state.

Did you notice that the state budget is looking really bad for next year?

The LAO responded to Brown's pension proposal.

Yudof announced no mid-year tuition hikes.  I wonder if he is nervous about protests at the Regents' party next week?

UC Davis plows ahead with plan to increase out-of-state and international students.

Bob Samuels discusses the rising inequality at UC here and here.

In the last few weeks I've given a number of talks on college campuses about the self-feeding devolutionary spiral in puliic university funding.  I've tried to describe the mechanisms that are continuing to accelerate decline, and identify points of resistance that could help with rebuilding.   The goal must remain mass quality rather than limited access to premium content.  Our higher ed system is stratified enough as it is, and "private good" solutions only make it worse.

Robert Mejia offers an overview of my "Rebuiling the Public University" talk at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.  By coincidence, I spoke in the same room a few hours after UI-Urbana faculty had met their new systemwide president for the first time, and heard him speak directly about his plan to take control of enrollments away from each campus and centralize them systemwide.  This struck me as the kind of administrative exercise that makes an executive's mark without improving the institution itself, and that distracts attention from the deeper issues of rebuilding funding and upgrading academic goals.

An example of the deeper issue occurred the day after the coverage of the Illinois faculty meeting, in an article in the Los Angeles Times on how California public universities are leading the way in public tuition increases averaging over 8% last year.  The article started with a causal connection between legislative cuts to public funding and increases to student tuition.  But it then cited an expert saying that the real problem wasn't public funding cuts but public campus inefficiencies, particularly the inefficiency of faculty who don't teach enough.

In Oakland, Occupy supporters and city officials debated at a public meeting.  And you can get more information here.

Assembly Budget Committee expects 5-8 Billion dollar deficit next year.

#OccupyOakland closes down nation's 5th biggest port.  UCOP appears to have asked its employees to stay away from the office, located near the occupation, and to work from home.

Colorado votes down a tax-increase measure for education.  The state governor wants to balance the budget by cutting higher education but much of the legislature is resisting.  The governor is a Democrat, and those opposed to higher ed cuts are Republicans.

Occupy Oakland Schedule for General Strike.  Live updates.  Other information.   Video. 

Colorado Voters say no to increasing taxes to pay for education.

Texas Board of Regents invests in company that trolls for course grading data; mandates that campuses sign on to it.

Regional Public Universities are lessening research commitments.

Universities intensify efforts to break into commercial world.

By Stanton Glantz

cross-listed from KQED

Conventional wisdom says the UC and CSU funding crises are the inevitable result of recession-driven budget shortfalls, and the only solution is to soak students and their families.

But it's bunk. Shifting costs from the public to students is a deliberate act of public policy.