Adam Baldwin and Liberty Chick have written an excellent article at Big Journalism analyzing what happened between the Occupiers at UC Davis and the police who came in and pepper sprayed them. They think Chancellor Linda Katehi should resign not because of the pepper spray, but because she allowed the unruly students to get away with mayhem and violate the rights of others. Here are some excerpts:Protesters have since admitted, they intentionally surrounded the police and blocked them in.
Whether you agree or disagree with cities’ decisions to evict Occupy encampments, the fundamental 1st Amendment rights of the protesters are not being violated. Protesters are still permitted to assemble, they are still permitted to speak, they simply must do so within the limits of the law – free speech is subject to time, place, and manner regulations. Such guidelines exist in order to protect the rights of the public as a whole to safely access the same facilities in an unrestricted manner....The first amendment does not protect the right to camp out or to prohibit others from gaining access to the same spaces.
In fact, not only should Chancellor Katehi resign for her failure to show leadership, but the protesters who violated the Standards of Ethical Conduct should be expelled or punished, not given amnesty. Pepper spray aside, they broke the rules and that has an impact on their fellow community members who chose to be responsible and play by the rules.
Read the full article at Big Journalism
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