The University of California, Davis, campus police chief has been placed on administrative leave after a video showing campus police pepper spraying seated protestors has gone viral. Protestors have called for the resignation of U.C., Davis chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, according to The New York Times. The video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
Speaking at a rally Monday, Katehi apologized to the protestors.
“I feel horrible for what happened on Friday,” she said. “I don’t want to be the chancellor of the university we had on Friday.”
Katehi told the crowd the protestors did not have to believe her.
“It is my responsibility to earn your trust,” she said.
Students are protesting continued university budget cuts and corresponding tuition increases. The Times reports the California Legislature will likely push through a further $200 million in cuts to higher education in 2012. Next year the University of California will collect more from student tuition than from state funds.
Following the pepper spray attacks, protestors at other University of California campuses vowed to restart encampments Monday night. On a conference call with the chancellors of all 10 University of California campuses, U.C. president Mark G. Yudof urged them to refrain from using police force against “peaceful, lawful protests,” according to The Times.
Photo by Flickr | uzvards
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