An Open Letter to the UC Regents,
When the Board of Regents met at UC Riverside last Thursday (January 19, 2012), police officers engaged in violence against students and staff members who had gathered to protest. News reports and video footage document officers jabbing protesters with batons and firing projectiles. This follows outcry within the UC community, across the United States, and internationally about police violence toward protesters at UC Berkeley on November 9 and UC Davis on November 18. We, the undersigned faculty of the University of California, San Diego, believe that the use of violence against students and staff exercising their right to peaceful protest is entirely unacceptable. Such use of force by police against peaceful protesters runs directly counter to values of reason, dialogue, and free expression that are basic to the very idea of the university as an institution. We therefore call on the Board of Regents to publicly condemn the use of violent tactics in the policing of campus protest.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Charles Thorpe, Sociology Professor Morana Alac, Communciation Professor Lisa Cartwright, Communication Professor Ivan Evans, Sociology (President, UC San Diego Faculty Association) Professor Martha Lampland, Sociology Professor Chandra Mukerji, Communication Professor Luis Martin-Cabrera, Literature Professor Ross Frank, Ethnic Studies Professor Wm. Arctander O’Brien, Literature Alanna Aiko Moore, Subject Librarian, Social Sciences and Humanities Library Professor Roshanak Kheshti, Ethnic Studies Professor Christian Wuthrich, Philosophy Professor Tara Knight, Theatre Professor Stefan Tanaka, History Professor Brian Goldfarb, Communication Professor Zeinabu Davis, Literature Professor John Blanco, Literature Professor Stephanie Jed, Literature Professor Robert Horwitz, Communication Professor Valerie Hartouni, Communication Professor Nitin Govil, Communication Professor Patrick Anderson, Communication Professor Guillermo Algaze, Anthropology Professor April Linton, Sociology Professor Marcel Henaff, Literature Professor Kelly Gates, Communication Professor Isaac Martin, Sociology Professor Nancy Caciola, History Professor Anna Joy Springer, Literature Professor Nina Zhiri, Literature Professor Rosaura Sanchez, Literature Professor Lisa Lowe, Literature Professor Rebecca Klatch, Sociology Dr. Beatrice Pita, Literature Harrod Suarez, Lecturer, Ethnic Studies Professor Jann Pasler, Music Professor Anya S. Gallaccio, Visual Arts Professor Robert Westman, History Professor Jin-Kyung Lee, Literature Professor Gerald Doppelt, Philosophy Professor Rachel Klein, History Professor Fred Lonidier, Visual Arts (President, UC-AFT Local 2034) Professor Ricardo Dominguez, Visual Arts Professor Kartik Seshadri, Music Professor Louis Hock, Visual Arts