UPDATE 4: According to Richard Chang, a reporter for the California Aggie, UC Davis has announced that police from UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and Sacramento State have been called onto campus as a precaution. They are backup, and located at a staging area away from the Quad.

UPDATE 3: 60 to 70 tents on the Quad, with more going up, plus a geodesic dome under construction.

UPDATE 2: The UC Davis English Department calls for the resignation of Katehi and the disbanding of the UC Davis police department on its official UC Davis website:

The faculty of the UC Davis English Department supports the Board of the Davis Faculty Association in calling for Chancellor Katehi’s immediate resignation and for a policy that will end the practice of forcibly removing non-violent student, faculty, staff, and community protesters by police on the UC Davis campus. Further, given the demonstrable threat posed by the University of California Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to the safety of students, faculty, staff, and community members on our campus and others in the UC system, we propose that such a policy include the disbanding of the UCPD and the institution of an ordinance against the presence of police forces on the UC Davis campus, unless their presence is specifically requested by a member of the campus community. This will initiate a genuinely collective effort to determine how best to ensure the health and safety of the campus community at UC Davis.

UPDATE 1: Tents going up along the centennial walkway of the Quad. A subsequent proposal at today's general assembly calling for disbanding the UC Davis police department failed with only 60% support. 80% or 90% has been commonly required for approval of a proposal at an Occupy Together assembly. There will be another general assembly tomorrow morning at 11am to commence planning for the 11/28 strike.

INITIAL POST: After a large rally on the Quad today in response to the pepper spray assault last Friday, with an estimated crowd in excess of 5,000 people, the remaining students conducted a general assembly. Upon discussing a proposal for a campus wide strike on Monday, November 28th, the students approved it by a vote of 1,720 yes votes, 6 in opposition with 20 absentions, a margin of nearly 300 to 1.

Chancellor Katehi spoke at the rally, but the students conditioned her appearance upon submission to the rules applied to all other speakers, rules that required her to stand in line and limit her remarks to one minute. She apologized for the pepper spray incident and asserted that she had to earn their trust. Students ran after her as she walked to her car, with many of them yelling don't come back. Earlier in the day, she appeared on Good Morning America and refused to resign because the university needs me. I called the Chancellor's Office to express my displeasure with such narcissism, which I did as politely as possible, resulting in a warm thank you very much from the receptionist. Apparently, the students are not the only ones who have experienced Katehi's imperious manner.

Labels: Activism, California, Education, Police, Sacramento