The chancellor of UC Davis, said Saturday it will form a working group to investigate the pepper spraying of protesters occupying the Davis campus police this week.
An officer from the spraying of students sitting, who had locked arms, Friday afternoon in an attempt to erase the past occupy a camp was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube and other social media sites.
Friday "was not a day that would make anyone proud of our campus," wrote Linda PB Katehi chancellor in a letter published on the school website. "The use of pepper spray, as shown in the video is scary for us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this."
Katehi wrote that he was forming a task force of faculty, students and staff to investigate the incident and policy development in the next 90 days for the Department of Administration and the police "to help prevent future similar results . "
She said the university is committed to remain a place where students are free to express their concerns and opinions. However, he also insisted that although "the university has the responsibility to develop appropriate environments to guarantee the exercise of these freedoms, no way we should allow a repeated violation of these rules as an expression of personal freedom."
