Mr. President:

I am a graduate of The University of California.

I am writing you to let you know of my anger and outrage at the unwarranted and despicable pepper spray attack upon UC students on Friday, November 18, 2011 by members of the UC Davis Police Department at the direction of UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi and under the command and control of UC Davis Police Chief Annette M. Spicuzza.

Chancellor Kathei’s conduct and decision-making has been an unmitigated disaster. Saturday evenings’ dramatic public shaming of her by the University’s own students for her actions was fully deserved. 

Thankfully, to my knowledge, no one was seriously hurt. The University is very lucky that, for example, no one with asthma, a respiratory or other vulnerability died as a result of being pepper sprayed by UCD Police. Pepper spray is known to be lethal. I will not be surprised if, as a direct result of Kathei’s and Spicuzza’s actions, the University faces legal action in the near future, is found liable and has to pay substantial damages. If that happens, no law or public relations firm employed by the University will succeed in defending Katehi’s or Spicuzza’s conduct and action in either the court of public opinion or the court of law. There are too many examples to the contrary. 

By her actions, Katehi has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is not competent to make decisions which directly affect the lives and health of UC students. The University administration’s unwillingness to openly condemn Friday’s attacks is widely, and reasonably, being viewed by UC students, the public and the world as condoning them.

As for Chief Annette M. Spicuzza, her embarrassing and lame attempt to defend her decision to go ahead and have her heavily armed and riot-gear-outfitted officers pepper spray defenseless, non-resisting University students is laughable on its face. So laughable, in fact, that her statements have been met around the world with universal mocking derision and disbelief. Spicuzza tries to claim that videotapes of the event are evidence of justification of the attack while the rest of the world views the same violent and disturbing images as evidence of acts deserving universal moral condemnation. Spicuzza insults the public’s senses and its intelligence. The acts and images of the UC Davis Police - like those of the infamous Lt. Pike - scream reckless endangerment and brutality. Don’t take my word for it - take a look for yourself. A quick scan of Saturday morning’s news reporting on Friday’s attack reveals factually accurate and repeatedly corroborated, negative reportage by sources as diverse as Al-Jazeera (!), The Washington Post, The Nation, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Salon Magazine, The Davis Enterprise and many, many others. The same is true of local and international TV news broadcasts. And as if that is not bad enough, I suggest you check out Twitter and FaceBook coverage and reaction there. Again, overwhelmingly negative coverage and condemnation of Chancellor Katehi, Chief Spicuzza and the UC Police.

As a result of the above I ask for the following:

1. The immediate removal and replacement of Chancellor Kathei. She is a stain on UC Davis. Her credibility is shot. She is a legal liability and public relations nightmare. Time for her to leave, end of story;
2. The immediate removal of Chief Spicuzza - see above;
3. Disciplinary action against Lt. Pike, up to and including termination;
4. A truly independent, open and public investigation into the incident approved, conducted by and with oversight of UC Davis faculty and students. I frankly have no confidence in any decision made by Kathei. In any event, her mere involvement undermines credibility. Some suggested questions to be asked and answered and supported by documents, including internal emails, phone records and police communications:  

• • What did Kathei and Spicuzza order and when did they order it? (Documents, chronology, protocol, chain of command, technology deployed); 
  • Who in the UC administration was consulted and when? (coordination with other campuses? Other entities? DHS?);
  • Who approved the decision to pepper spray UC students? (e.g., UC legal, President’s office, etc.)

This is a moment when the whole world really is watching to see how the University of California responds.

Very truly yours,

Ernest Fuentes