LGBTQ news and entertainment
The University of California regents has agreed to a settlement to the students who were pepper-sprayed last November at the UC Davis at a demonstration.
It calls for each of the 21 plaintiffs to receive $30,000 for a total payout of $630,000.
The agreement also transforms the suit into a class action, which will allow others who were hit with pepper spray during the Nov. 18 protest to submit claims for payments of up to $20,000.
Two police officers involved in a pepper-spraying incident at the University of California-Davis have been placed on leave, and over the weekend, the university’s faculty association called for the chancellor’s resignation.
But Chancellor Linda Katehi told ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday that she’s staying put. “I really feel confident at this point the university needs me,” she told GMA (video here). “There are so many critical issues to be addressed and we really need to start the healing process and move forward.”
On Friday, a police officer was captured on video casually pepper spraying a group of sitting protesters. The incident occurred after “Occupy” protesters were asked to take down their tents from the university’s lawn.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who approved the police action taken November 18 on her students, gets the silent treatment from her school as she leaves campus.
Silence has never been so deafening.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi thinks this is the appropriate response to a peaceful sit-in.
UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said officers used force out of concern for their own safety after they were surrounded by students.
Take a look at the first ten seconds of the video. The police officer who pepper sprayed the kids didn’t spray the crowd standing around him. He calmly steps over the sitting students – who clearly pose no threat – and sprays the sitting students.
Do those kids look like they were a “threat”? More at AmericaBlog.