The Chancellor of UC Berkeley sent us all this email about the police brutality (I work there)

[lunatica]

Of course it was at 4:30 when most of campus had gone home for the long weekend. It smells like the Friday night news dump.

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To the Extended UC Berkeley Community:

As you know, yesterday an effort was made to establish an encampment on Sproul
Plaza, by the "Occupy Cal" movement. This followed and marred the aftermath of an
impressive, peaceful noontime rally on Sproul on behalf of public education, which
was attended by some 3,000 participants and observers, including many campus
leaders. We compliment the organizers and speakers for setting an example of
peaceful protest and mobilization. As we informed the campus community earlier this
week, we understand and share the concern of the Occupy movement about the extreme
concentration of wealth in US society and the steady disinvestment in public higher
education by California and other States.

We want to clarify our position on "no encampments" so you better understand why we
do not allow this to occur on our campus. When the no-encampment policy was
enacted, it was born out of past experiences that grew beyond our control and
ability to manage safely. Past experiences at UC Berkeley, along with the present
struggles with entrenched encampments in Oakland, San Francisco, and New York City,
led us to conclude that we must uphold our policy.

This decision is largely governed by practical, not philosophical, considerations.
We are not equipped to manage the hygiene, safety, space, and conflict issues that
emerge when an encampment takes hold and the more intransigent individuals gain
control. Our intention in sending out our message early was to alert everyone that
these activities would not be permitted. We regret that, in spite of forewarnings,
we encountered a situation where, to uphold our policy, we were required to forcibly
remove tents and arrest people.

We want to thank our student leaders, faculty, and community members who worked hard
to maintain a peaceful context last night. We have been in discussions with the
ASUC, Graduate Assembly, and other student leaders who have provided a number of
alternative proposals for working with the student protesters. One such discussion
led last night to our offering protesters the opportunity to use Sproul Plaza 24/7
for one week, as a venue for gathering and discussing the issues. However, we
stipulated that no tents, stoves, and sleeping bags would be allowed. They could
gather in Sproul for discussion, but not for sleeping. This was rejected by a vote
of the mass of the protesters.

It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms
and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents.
This is not non-violent civil disobedience. By contrast, some of the protesters
chose to be arrested peacefully; they were told to leave their tents, informed that
they would be arrested if they did not, and indicated their intention to be
arrested. They did not resist arrest or try physically to obstruct the police
officers' efforts to remove the tent. These protesters were acting in the tradition
of peaceful civil disobedience, and we honor them.

We regret that, given the instruction to take down tents and prevent encampment, the
police were forced to use their batons to enforce the policy. We regret all
injuries, to protesters and police, that resulted from this effort. The campus's
Police Review Board will ultimately determine whether police used excessive force
under the circumstances.

We call on the protesters to observe campus policy or, if they choose to defy the
policy, to engage in truly non-violent civil disobedience and to accept the
consequences of their decisions.

We ask supporters of the Occupy movement to consider the interests of the broader
community---the tens of thousands who elected not to participate in yesterday's
events. We urge you to consider the fact that there are so many time-tested ways to
have your voices heard without violating the one condition we have asked you to
abide by.

Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor
George Breslauer, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Harry LeGrande, Vice Chancellor for Studies Affairs