State Leaders Begin To Weigh In On UC Davis Incident

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The president of the UC Regents and the president pro tempore of the California Senate have weighed in on the UC Davis protest that led to demonstrators being doused in pepper spray at close range Friday.

Senate President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg issued a brief statement Sunday afternoon regarding the footage and pictures that show UC Davis Police officers covering a line of sitting protesters in pepper spray after they refused to move from the campus quad Friday afternoon.

"On its face, this is an outrageous action for police to methodically pepper spray passive demonstrators who were exercising their right to peacefully protest at U.C. Davis," the statement read. "Chancellor Katehi needs to immediately investigate, publically explain how this could happen and ensure that those responsible are held accountable."

UC Regent President Mark G. Yudof said he was "appalled" by the footage that shows UC Davis Police officers covering a line of sitting protesters in pepper spray after they refused to move from the campus quad Friday afternoon.

>> Raw Footage: UC Davis Protesters Pepper Sprayed

In posts on Twitter and his Facebook account, Yudof wrote the following:

I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.

I intend to do everything in my power as President of this university to protect the rights of our students, faculty and staff to engage in non-violent protest.

Chancellors at the UC Davis and UC Berkeley campuses already have initiated reviews of incidents that occurred on their campuses. I applaud this rapid response and eagerly await the results.

The University of California, however, is a single university with 10 campuses, and the incidents in recent days cry out for a system-wide response.

Therefore I will be taking immediate steps to set that response in motion.

I intend to convene all 10 chancellors, either in person or by telephone, to engage in a full and unfettered discussion about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest.

To that end, I will be asking the Chancellors to forward to me at once all relevant protocols and policies already in place on their individual campuses, as well as those that apply to the engagement of non-campus police agencies through mutual aid agreements.

Further, I already have taken steps to assemble experts and stake-holders to conduct a thorough, far-reaching and urgent assessment of campus police procedures involving use of force, including post-incident review processes.

My intention is not to micromanage our campus police forces. The sworn officers who serve on our campuses are professionals dedicated to the protection of the UC community.

Nor do I wish to micromanage the chancellors. They are the leaders of our campuses and they have my full trust and confidence.

Nonetheless, the recent incidents make clear the time has come to take strong action to recommit to the ideal of peaceful protest.

As I have said before, free speech is part of the DNA of this university, and non-violent protest has long been central to our history. It is a value we must protect with vigilance. I implore students who wish to demonstrate to do so in a peaceful and lawful fashion. I expect campus authorities to honor that right.