NPR is reporting that the settlement in the UC-Davis pepper spray case was a cool $1 million. See http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/26/161839245/uc-oks-1-million-settlement-in-pepper-spray-suit Update: Detail from the Sacramento Bee at:http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2012/09/pepper-spray-settlement-about-1-million.html
Our prior post today discussed the ongoing saga of the not-quite med school at UC-Riverside. Another ongoing saga at UC is the UC-Davis pepper spray story. Today comes word in the Sacramento Bee that there will be no prosecution by the local DA of the police officers involved: …In viewing the incident “through the totality of the circumstances, there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges,” officials said in a statement announcing the report’s…
From the LA Times: The UC regents, in a closed-door meeting, approved the proposed settlement payment to 21 UC Davis students and alumni who sued the university and contended their civil rights were violated in the widely criticized pepper spray incident. However, both UC officials and the ACLU of Northern California, which is representing the students in the lawsuit, refused to divulge settlement details, saying the rules of the agreement talks require a federal judge to review the matter before it can be made public. That may happen within a few days, they said…UC Regent Leslie Tang Schilling said the…
Among the various items on the Regents agenda in September is a review of litigation affecting UC. Included is a tentative settlement of the UC-Davis pepper spray incident. Another bit of litigation from the “occupy” demonstrations at Davis involving a bank branch there is also up for discussion. The Japanese Garden litigation is on the list as is the UCLA lab fire incident involving a faculty member being prosecuted by the local DA (and defended by the university). And there is a lawsuit arising from demonstrations at Berkeley. The full list is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/sept12/finx.pdf but note that all of this discussion will…
Chancellor Katehi of UC-Davis spent much of the last academic year dealing with the pepper-spray incident. Now that the pepper incident controversy is (largely) over, another one has arisen. Today’s Sacramento Bee reports a new brouhaha at Davis, this one involving the abrupt resignation of the dean of the ag school after the chancellor insisted on searching for his replacement 2 years before his term was up. Another administrator also resigned in protest. Although the ag school’s website says “your future starts here,” apparently neither administrator saw it that way.=== …Dean Neal Van Alfen and Executive Associate Dean James D. MacDonald…
Just when you thought there could not be more to contemplate about the UC-Davis pepper spray incident, there is this from the Sacramento Bee: The internal affairs investigation into last November’s pepper-spraying controversy at UC-Davis concluded that Lt. John Pike acted reasonably, with a subsequent review concluding he should have faced demotion or a suspension at worst, according to documents obtained by The Bee. Despite those recommendations, Pike was fired Tuesday after UC Davis Police Chief Matthew Carmichael rejected the findings and wrote in a letter to Pike that “the needs of the department do not justify your continued employment,” according to…
The headline on a story in today’s Sacramento Beereads: “2 UC Davis neurosurgeons accused of experimental surgery are banned from human research” But, as is often the case, the story that follows is more complicated than the headline suggests. It raises issues of bioethics related to the specific procedures described and also questions about management control in medical facilities. I mention the latter because some readers will recall the body parts scandal at UCLA and the scrambled eggs/fertility clinic scandal at UC-Irvine. We have a comment option on this blog which is rarely used but if medical professionals in particula…
Behind closed doors on July 18th, the Regents will be discussing various items of litigation. The doors are locked but we do know the items: AUTHORS GUILD, et al. v. HATHITRUST, et al. – The case has to do with digitalization of “orphan” works at university libraries, not just UC, a project generally supported by university libraries around the U.S. “Orphan” works are older books that are out of print and either out of copyright or whose copyright holders cannot be determined. BAKER, et al. v. KATEHI, et. al. – Mediation Scheduled – Constitutional and State Law Claims Arising from…
You may have seen headlines indicating that UC-Davis has been ordered to release the names of the university police involved in the pepper spray incident. Some names have been released in earlier reports. But the new court order refers to names that were redacted from official documents. In fact, the judge involved gave the union representing the police officers who want their identities kept private a chance to appeal. For details, see http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/26/4590884/judge-release-names-tied-to-uc.html
In the prior post on this blog, we caught up with the Anderson self-support model. There is also some catching up to do on academic freedom cases. As a prior post noted, a med school faculty member at UC-Davis (who was once at UCLA) was threatened for an op ed he wrote suggesting that PSA screening was being over-promoted. The PSA to which he referred was not any of the items to the upper left but the test used for detecting prostate cancer. The LA Times reports that the Davis “Representative Assembly” (Legislative Assembly) voted unanimously to condemn that action….
