November 22,
2009
Open Letter
from Concerned Members of the Faculty to Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau,
We,
the undersigned faculty, are writing to voice our strenuous objection to the
use of unwarranted violence by the police forces enlisted by the University of
California at Berkeley to patrol the student demonstration outside of Wheeler
Hall on Friday, November 20th. It
is now abundantly clear that in addition to UC Police, there were squads from the
City of Berkeley and Alameda County, and that some of these police forces acted
with undue violence at various points during the day, most conspicuously at
mid-day and then again in late afternoon when they used batons against students
and a faculty member. In some
cases this occurred to defenseless people who had already been pushed to the ground, among them several who sustained
injuries to hands, heads, and stomachs, and were forced to seek urgent medical
care. These abuses of police power
were captured on video recordings and in photographs, corroborated by numerous
witnesses. They have now been widely circulated on the web and throughout the
national and international media.
We will send you a composite of those websites and testimonies under separate
cover.
These
documents clearly show that the students were acting in a non-violent manner
when their civil rights were abrogated by police harassment and assault. Such instances of unprovoked police
brutality would be appalling and objectionable anywhere, but we find it most
painful for these events to have taken place on the UC Berkeley campus, given
the important tradition of protecting free speech that you, Chancellor
Birgeneau, have only very recently defended. Hence we regard with dismay and
astonishment your euphemistic reference to these FridayÕs violence: Òa few
members of our campus community may have found themselves in conflict with law
enforcement officers.Ó There
is no doubt that our students and colleagues did find themselves subject to
unwarranted and illegal police brutality. It is therefore incumbent on the
Chancellor of UC Berkeley to condemn such actions unequivocally and to make
sure that such actions are subject to comprehensive review and disciplinary
action.
Accordingly, we the undersigned demand that the university assume full accountability for the actions of the police forces active on campus on Friday, November 20th. We call for the administration immediately to convene an impartial and comprehensive investigation of the abuse of police power that resulted, making broad use of available testimony on the part of victims and observers, including photographic images, video and personal narration of those at the scene in order to establish a clear record of the facts. We ask as well that you speak directly and honestly to the students about what has happened. They are entitled to know that the university does not condone acts of police violence such as these; as of this writing, they have received no word from the administration acknowledging accountability for such appalling actions. Indeed, the administration was markedly unreachable on Friday, when faculty were most pressed to take on a mediating role.
We ask that you
widely publicize the current protocols governing police conduct at
demonstrations, and ascertain whether protocol was followed or abrogated on
Friday. The entire community is also surely entitled to know that clear steps
will be taken to revise protocols regarding police conduct at student
demonstrations--protocols that will be binding on any police force brought on
campus. It should also make clear that disciplinary actions will be taken
against police officers found guilty of assault. Finally we ask for a public statement reconfirming the
UniversityÕs commitment to protect the rights of free expression and assembly
for students on the Berkeley campus.
We want to underscore how important
it is for the campus for you to convene an investigation and to take
administrative responsibility for protecting the safety of students as well as
their rights of assembly and expression.
FridayÕs failure to do so is a most painful public display of how far UC
Berkeley has strayed from its historical responsibility as a national and
international institution pledged to rights of free speech and assembly and to
the ideals of social justice. It
is surely difficult enough to see our reputation as an excellent and affordable
university jeopardized through budget cuts and fee hikes. Must we see as well the dissolution of
the ideal of protecting free speech for students for whom the very future of
their education is at stake?
Alice
Merner Agogino, Mechanical
Engineering
DŽborah
Blocker, French
Judith
Butler, Rhetoric and Comparative Literature
Catherine
Cole, Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies
Suzanne
Guerlac, French
Gillian
Hart, Geography
Charles
Hirschkind, Anthropology
Saba Mahmood, Anthropology
Ramona Naddaff, Rhetoric
Stefania Pandolfo,
Anthropology
Ananya Roy, City
and Regional Planning
Scott
Saul, English
Shannon
Steen, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Anne Wagner, History of Art