Faculty Strongly Condemns UC Actions Against Protestors in Letter to Birgeneau
In a letter sent to Chancellor Birgeneau, an impressive list of over 60 members of the Boalt faculty have condemned the UCPD and UC Berkeley Administration actions towards the Occupy Cal protestors. The letters also calls on the administration to follow Judge Brazil's report on the 2009 police brutality incidents and implement policy changes to prevent police violence and harassment towards UC students.
It's commendable that so many individuals on the faculty have taken such a strong stance on what has been happening at Cal. Here is the entire letter reprinted (with the faculty signatures after the jump):
It's commendable that so many individuals on the faculty have taken such a strong stance on what has been happening at Cal. Here is the entire letter reprinted (with the faculty signatures after the jump):
Dear Chancellor Birgeneau and Vice Chancellors Breslauer and LeGrande,
We, the undersigned members of the Berkeley Law faculty, write to condemn in the strongest possible terms:
Sproul Plaza. The First Amendment enshrines the right to assemble peaceably, to speak freely, and to petition for governmental redress of grievances. Interference with these rights, particularly in the form of violence that was visited upon protesters in Sproul Plaza last week, is inexcusable by any government entity, but is particularly troubling at a public university. While the University may enforce its rules, including citing or arresting those engaged in acts of civil disobedience (such as linking arms and refusing to disband), there is no place for instigating violence in a community dedicated to the free exchange of ideas.
- the temporary detention by police of two law students near the law school on the same day; and
- the Chancellor’s public and explicit defense of the police action of November 9, 2011, which made inaccurate distinctions between violent and non-violent civil disobedience and which he apparently signed without having viewed the videos of the incidents at issue.
Kroeber Plaza. On November 9, in separate incidents, a group of officers detained two Berkeley Law students who were attempting to return to class after participating in the peaceful demonstration at Sproul Hall. The officers detained each student near Kroeber Plaza, though there had been no protest activity at the Plaza or the law school, and the students were simply walking back to class. Ostensibly, the officers were asking for identification. However, the accounts of these incidents provided by the two students and other witnesses – law students and law school faculty and staff – describe police actions that were unwarranted and excessive.
Going Forward. The police conduct at Sproul Plaza, and the humiliating and frightening police activity at Kroeber Plaza, have caused a number of our students to question whether they can safely come and go from the law school, much less exercise their First Amendment rights at our university. In addition to the urgent need for a thorough review of these events – including holding accountable those parties responsible for any actions that violated the civil and political rights of our community members – we call on the administration to:
- implement immediately the recommendations of the June 2010 Brazil Police Review Board Report;
- publicly support and defend the rights of community members – and especially our students – to engage in non-violent political expression; and
- take all other actions necessary to reestablish Berkeley’s reputation as a beacon of peaceable assembly and free speech.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Abrams
Herma Hill Kay Distinguished Professor of Law
Catherine Albiston
Professor of Law
Ty Alper
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
Roxanna Altholz
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
Michelle Wilde Anderson
Assistant Professor of Law
Lila Bailey
Clinical Teaching Fellow
Kenneth A. Bamberger
Professor of Law
Ed Barnes
Lecturer
Robert C. Berring, Jr.
Walter Perry Johnson Professor of Law
Martha Brown
Director of Finance and Administration, East Bay Community Law Center
Stephen McG. Bundy
Professor of Law
Richard M. Buxbaum
Jackson H. Ralston Professor of International Law, Emeritus
David Caron
C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law
Erin Clarke
Lecturer in Residence
Meir Dan-Cohen
Milo Reese Robbins Professor of Law
Brendan Darrow
Lecturer
Allison Davenport
Clinical Instructor
Holly Doremus
Professor of Law
Sharon Djemal
Lecturer
Lauren B. Edelman
Associate Dean for Jurisprudence and Social Policy
Agnes Roddy Robb
Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology
Laurel Fletcher
Clinical Professor of Law
Mary Louise Frampton
Adjunct Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice
Mark Gergen
Professor of Law
Jennifer Granholm
Distinguished Practitioner of Law and Public Policy
Rosann Greenspan
Executive Director, Center for the Study of Law and Society
Sheila Hall
Director, Health Law Clinic, East Bay Community Law Center
Henry L. Hecht
Lecturer in Residence
Joan H. Hollinger
Lecturer in Residence
Kristin Holmquist
Lecturer in Residence
Jesse Hsieh
Staff Attorney and Clinical Lecturer,
East Bay Community Law Center
Patricia Plunkett Hurley
Lecturer in Residence
Sushil Jacob
Skadden Felow and Clinical Supervisor,
East Bay Community Law Center
Kate Jastram
Lecturer in Residence
Amy Kapczynski
Assistant Professor of Law
William Kell
Lecturer in Residence
Helene Kim
Executive Director and Lecturer in Residence
International and Executive Legal Education
Tanya Koshy
Supervising Attorney, Clean Slate Practice,
East Bay Community Law Center
Prasad Krishnamurthy
Assistant Professor of Law
Christopher L. Kutz
Professor of Law
Taeku Lee
Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science
Professor, School of Law
Gillian Lester
Associate Dean and Professor of Law
David Lieberman
Jefferson E. Peyser Professor of Law
Wendy Lilliedoll
Lecturer in Residence
Ian Haney Lopez
John H. Boalt Professor of Law
Stanley Lubman
Distinguished Lecturer in Residence (ret.)
Robert MacCoun
Professor of Law and Public Policy
Justin McCrary
Professor of Law
Peter S. Menell
Robert L. Bridges Professor of Law
Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
Alice M. Miller
Lecturer in Residence
Saira Mohamed
Assistant Professor of Law
Melissa Murray
Professor of Law
Osha Neumann
Clinical Instructor, East Bay Community Law Center
Anne Joseph O’Connell
Professor of Law
Jamie O’Connell
Lecturer in Residence
David Oppenheimer
Clinical Professor of Law
Richard Perry
Lecturer in Residence
Victoria C. Plaut
Assistant Professor of Law and Social Science
Kevin Quinn
Professor of Law
Russell Robinson
Professor of Law
Bertrall Ross
Assistant Professor of Law
Andrea Roth
Assistant Professor of Law
Lindsay Sturges Saffouri
Lecturer in Residence
Sue Schechter
Field Placement Director
Jason Schultz
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
Jeffrey Selbin
Clinical Professor of Law
Elisabeth Semel
Clinical Professor of Law
Marjorie M. Shultz
Professor of Law, Emeritus
Lucinda Sikes
Lecturer in Residence
Jonathan Simon
Adrian A. Kragen Professor of Law
Fred Smith
Assistant Professor of Law
Sarah Song
Professor of Law and Associate Professor of Political Science
Tirien Steinbach
Executive Director, East Bay Community Law Center
Talha Syed
Assistant Professor of Law
Eric Talley
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Professor of Law
Linda Tam
Director, Immigration Clinic, East Bay Community Law Center
Karen Tani
Assistant Professor of Law
Yvonne Troya
Staff Attorney & Clinical Supervisor
Health Law Clinic, East Bay Community Law Center
Jennifer Urban
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
Leti Volpp
Professor of Law
Kate Weisburd
Lecturer in Residence
Steven Weissman
Lecturer in Residence
Wilda White
Executive Director, Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice
William D. Fernholz
Lecturer in Residence
Nancy K.D. Lemon
Lecturer
Neil M. Levy
Visiting Professor of Law
Stephen A. Rosenbaum
Lecturer
Eric Stover
Adjunct Professor of Law and Public Health
Eleanor Swift
Professor of Law
Calvin Morrill
Professor of Law & SociologyDirector, Center for Study of Law and Society
Joseph Lavitt
Lecturer
Jennifer Moreno
Staff Attorney, Death Penalty Clinic
Charles D. Weisselberg
Shannon C. Turner Professor of Law
Eliza Hersch
Lecturer
Robert P. Bartlett, III
Assistant Professor
posted by James at 6:28 PM
29 Comments:
Thank you, faculty!
THIS is the Boalt Hall I would donate to.
exactly the response I would have wanted DE to lead. should we read anything into the fact that some faculty did not sign? some of my favorite profs didn't sign on...
Thank you all so much for this. And a huge thanks to the faculty that came out to march with us this afternoon.
I want to commend your efforts! Excellent letter, eloquently written, and represents Boalt Law at its best.
9:17,
It's possible that some signatures aren't there for logistical reasons. I know at least one professor who strongly shares the sentiments of the letter but who is not a signatory. I suspect that he did not have an opportunity to sign the letter.
Also, some otherwise sympathetic professors might hesitate to sign a letter like this without first understanding all of the facts. The second complaint (concerning the detention of the two Boalt students) is based on some assumed facts that aren't easy to confirm. It's different than the first and third complaints, which can be researched by looking at videos and reading the 11/9 chancellor's letter.
9:17, no, you probably shouldn't. One lecturer has already sent a reply to the all-boalt email list saying they would have signed had they been asked.
This letter makes me proud to be a Boalt alum!!!
This makes me SO proud to be a Boalt student. Thank you so much to our faculty for taking a leadership role on this issue.
Oh man, Jan Vetter just broke my heart.
Look at us, being the school of law and not the school of dentistry!
The authors of this letter have asked me to make it clear that given their urgency to get the letter out, they did the best they could but did not achieve perfection in terms of reaching every faculty member who might have wanted to sign on to the letter (which was due in part to the many confusing email list groups we have at Boalt). They want to apologize for not being able to include everyone who would sign and they will be adding names to the letter as they come in the next 24 hours or so and somehow figure out a way to publish the complete list.
No Sw*ft?!
So just to be clear, Edl*y did not sign this, right?
As I stated last night, faculty were not all able to sign immediately due to their schedule constraints and how quickly the letter was written and disseminated, but we will continue to add signatures here on N&B as we're notified of them.
i literally just got the chills reading this letter and seeing the signatures of our faculty.
this is exactly why i remember boalt with such fondness. with all of the recent things going on (e.g., construction, tuition, protests, etc.), it's awesome to be reminded why we treasure this institution and will forever be proud to be boalties.
dean e*ley gets a lot of crap (some warranted, most unwarranted), but he demonstrated remarkable leadership and initiative here.
hooray for boalt!!!
member of the class of '10 here.
10:11,
I'm pretty sure DE had nothing to do with this letter and has not yet even signed on to it...
10:17,
debbie downer.
Way to go faculty! Was thinking about the Berkeley Law Centennial video about our school's "Big Ideas, Bold Action" and how our administration tries to use the idea of "bold action" and public engagement to its fundraising/recruiting benefits, but is actually rather timid about taking stances itself for the same reasons. Glad to see our faculty are stepping up.
Colbert goes after Chancellor Birgeneau (starting at 2:35):
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/402382/november-15-2011/occupy-wall-street-decamped
Good point:
Faculty's "Bold Action" Letter: free and powerful.
Administration's "Bold Action" Video: $50,000.
Proud of our faculty; still ashamed of Dean Edley.
Faulting the Dean for spending money on that video is silly. It's like faulting a pizza parlor for placing advertisements in the local paper. The video is a fundraising tool. You have to spend money to make money.
Unless someone has data to suggest that the school took a net loss on the video, we should all really get over it.
That said, I too wish Dean Edley had signed the letter.
10:27 here. I don't fault the school administration for making the video. Just for trading on the school's reputation of engagement in it while never actually taking a stance on anything in practice.
Are you kidding me? The behavior of the folks rioting is laughable. How about going and getting a job????? That is a concept. Chancellor Birgeneau is embarassed at the behavior of those inciting this crap as he should be. Shame on Cal for this. I can’t believe I went to this school and this is how we act. We are lucky to have a chancellor that actually puts up with all this crap. This is America. Stop whining, get a job, and then watch the government take all of your money via taxes. Then you can protest. And what is this protest about. Everyone has a different story. This is incredibly embarassing and represents a fringe group of losers that are not satisfied with their lot in life. Apologies to the Chancellor. He should step down and go somewhere where he does not have to put up with this crap
10:27, my comment was in response to 12:38. And FWIW, I liked and agree with your comment.
1:50 finally brought the crazy. You realize, 1:50, that all of these professors have jobs, right?
Let him be James... let him be.
Go faculty!
I too am surprised to see some names left off the list, especially profs who represented students arrested back in the 60's during the original free speech movement. Hope to see an updated list soon.
Did any more faculty sign onto the letter since this post? Did anything come of the letter?
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