The following letter was sent by SDFA Chair Ivan Evans to the Chair of the UCSD Academic Senate, Prof. Joel Sobel, on Saturday, November 19th.
Prof. Dear Professor Sobel:
As you are no doubt aware, police aggression in response to student
protests has surged at several UCs this past week and there is growing
concern that unnecessary and serious injuries might result. The most
recent incident occurred on Friday, 18 November when campus police
responded with unacceptable ferocity to protests at UC Davis. The
outrage that this incident has provoked amongst students and faculty
at Davis is captured in the comments of a professor of English
Literature at UCD.
http://bicyclebarricade.
Such sentiments are by no means confined to Davis faculty, however.
Emotions are running very high at several campuses and there is a
sense that the behavior of campus police has itself become a
flashpoint and a cause for mobilization.
The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA), the umbrella
Association to which the SDFA belongs, has issued a statement that
condemns police aggression on campus and briefly suggests why student
and faculty protests have increased over the past few weeks. CUCFA’s
full statement is attached herewith. [see this link]
I think you should know that I contacted the Chancellor, the EVC and
the UCSD Chief of Police earlier this week in connection with the
response of campus police to a student protest on Wednesday, 9
November. I noted that “Many bystanders and participants feel that the
aggressive behavior of the Police who were present was unwarranted and
came close to being counter-productive.” However, I also stated that
“The San Diego faculty Association (SDFA) is pleased to note, and
certainly appreciates that the Police at UCSD do not have a tradition
of aggressive or violent response. We hope that this pattern will
continue as groups mobilize peacefully on campus.”
In the event that the sort of protests that are currently roiling
several other UCs also emerge at UCSD, the SDFA sincerely hopes that
the Academic Senate will uphold the rights of those students and
faculty who protest peacefully on campus. A word of reassurance on
this score from the Chair of the Academic Senate would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Ivan Evans (Professor of Sociology)
President, SDFA
Board Member of CUCFA