COMMENTARY
The first thing to note is the source of this material is Lee Fang, an investigative researcher and reporter who has considerable journalistic experience. My guess is that his work will become more visible as the Occupy Movement matures.

The first thing that impresses is that the students make more sense than those with authority and power. This was also the case during the student protests of the 1960s. Many with power and authority today are too young to have been involved with the 1960s student protests, and they might be surprised at how strong the students can be.

It is also importamt to see and understand the comments about various events around the Occupy Movement. In connection with the quiet departure of the UC Davis Chancellor Katehi, there were many comments.

One series of comments related to not challenging her on the grounds of her gender, essentially giving her a 'free pass' because she is female. Responses to this included the idea with a position come responsibilities, and what the US Davis police was wrong and there needs to be accountability. Simple.

Another comment series relates to the idea that OWS is totally disorganized and does not know what it wants ... it should be ignored and the world left to get on with its life.
Peter Burgess

Breaking Video: UC Davis Chancellor Emerges From Press Conf., Tells Me She Didn’t Feel Threatened

Pepper sprayed UC Davis student addresses 1,000 other students, talks about his meeting with Kotehi to end the standstill. **UPDATE** Switched out low-quality video for better version. If you want to see the lower quality vid, see here. **UPDATE2** Video of the inspiring young UC Davis student who was hit with pepper spray yesterday, then led the nonviolent public shaming of Katehi today, here.

A pretty remarkable thing just happened. A press conference, scheduled for *4:00pm* between the UC Davis Chancellor and police with local press on campus, did not end in an hour, as planned. Instead, a mass of Occupy Davis students and sympathizers mobilized outside, demanding to have their voice heard. After some initial confusion, UC Chancellor Linda Katehi refused to leave the building, attempting to give the media the impression that the students were somehow holding her hostage.

A group of highly organized students formed a large gap for the chancellor to leave. They chanted “we are peaceful” and “just walk home,” but nothing changed for several hours. Eventually student representatives convinced the chancellor to leave after telling their fellow students to sit down and lock arms (around 7:00pm).

ME: Chancellor, do you still feel threatened by the students?

KATEHI: No. No.

Watch it:

One of the students pepper sprayed yesterday by chemicals that blew into his mouth (he was standing near the students huddled on the ground), a young man wearing a brown down coat over a tie-dye shirt, said he met with Kotehi and personally showed her a video of the pepper spraying attack. Speaking to about a thousand students with the “human mic,” the young man said he personally asked for her resignation.

**UPDATE** Switched out low-quality video for better version. If you want to see the lower quality vid, see here.

**UPDATE2** Video of the inspiring young UC Davis student who was hit with pepper spray yesterday, then led the nonviolent public shaming of Katehi today, here.

A few commenters and people on Twitter have asked why the chancellor is at the center of this firestorm over the police pepper spraying. Chancellor Katehi approved of the police action (though specifics of what she ordered exactly are still a mystery), and ordered the UC Davis cops to evict the protesters, resulting in the heinous pepper spraying video now plastered everywhere on the web. She has not apologized to the students or worked to remedy the situation — for instance, one student who was pepper sprayed told me she still has health problems after the incident, and no one from the administration contacted her to see if she’s okay. Katehi’s refusal to condemn the police action has only made a bad situation worse.

Lola-at-Large November 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm

I see a bunch of white dudes trying to take out one of the few women in charge of universities in America. Notice they ARE NOT reacting the same way to the male head of Berkeley, whom these Davis students were purporting to be protesting in solidarity with.

This whole thing smacks of white male entitlement. Direct your ire at the police if you must, but if you take out another woman, it will reflect badly on the movement itself, which reeks of white male privilege already.

She enjoys white entitlement, $400,000 a year w$9000 car allowance and free housing, she failed. Calling in the riot police against her own student body, oblivious to what that can lead too also reeks of a very entitled place in society.

If the male head of Berkeley needs to go Berkeley can handle it. This is about UC Davis and what happened there. Justice for the students and faculty….

Need I remind you that all women the world over hold less than 10% of the global wealth? Apparently I do….

Do I need to remind you that when woman hold positions of power they need to use the power responsibly? apparently I do,

What tortured logic you have, Lola! If you didn’t see women protesters, then you aren’t looking for them. In the original video with the pepper spraying, you can see and hear female protesters. In this video, you can see and hear several women participating in the ‘human mic.’

Yes, Katehi is a woman. But this does not make her immune to criticism.

tru bolt November 20, 2011 at 12:53 pm

the ows movement is a circus. ows may have some good intentions, but there’s little to no focus, plan, etc. just anger, slogans on signs and the spewing of sophomoric garble. not much to build on. the only ones who actually think this farse is actually accompliching anything are the clones involved and or their sympathizers. the rest (the majority, myself included) of the country just sits back and watches them make utter fools of themselves, shaking their heads in bewilderment. grow up, quit crying and use all that wasted energy on something positive. you know, like perhaps looking for jobs? until then, thanks for the laughs ows, the country (and world) is watching.

interesting perspective but not a valid argument, bankers and politicians are running scared so much so a high profile lobby has been consulted to put together a campaign costing around $84 million to discredit OWS the Washington lobby group wrote a three page letter pointing to the effectiveness of the campaign and the need to undermine it… You the majority do as you always do sit back and judge from your limited capacity to understand the depth of the crisis, you would rather hurl shallow comments from the safety of your arm chair.

The world is indeed watching in support and hope that we turn this around.

You speak the truth Nawahine.

About Lee Fang My name is Lee Fang. I’m an investigative researcher and reporter.

My work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Drudge Report, and other major outlets; my reporting has led to calls for several investigations in Congress; and I have contributed to the Boston Globe, The Nation, and appeared on programs like al Jazeera’s People and Power and the Thom Hartmann Show. From 2009 until 2011, I served as a blogger for ThinkProgress.org.

I named this blog The Second Alarm after a Revolutionary War newsletter that led to the Boston Tea Party. Called “The Alarm,” the pamphlet warned colonists that the British and the East India Trading Company would ruin America by sucking the wealth from its citizens and ruling over us in the pursuit of profit. I think a similar dynamic exists today, but instead of the East India Trading Company, lobbying groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and multinational banks like J.P. Morgan Chase pose an existential threat to America’s democracy, and to our greatness as a nation.

This blog is also just an outlet for me to continue reporting on topics that interest me.

Contact me at lhfang -at- gmail dot com.