Almost exactly one year ago, UC Davis changed.
A group of students were pepper sprayed by the UC Davis Police during a peaceful protest on the Quad on Nov. 18.
This event has had a profound and serious impact on our campus.
First, students stopped trusting the administration. Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and former Lt. John Pike were at the center of a serious meme campaign and the administration’s authority as a whole was questioned.
But the administration has made progress in regaining some trust from the students. They have taken steps to create guidelines for how they will deal with protests in the future and the new police chief, Matt Carmichael, has made an effort to reach out to students and increase transparency.
While we acknowledge these efforts, realistically the administration has a long way to go before they regain the trust and respect they lost on Nov. 18. It seems that the administration is on the right track, but it is silly to think that things will ever be the same as they were before.
However, the questioning of authority is not necessarily a bad thing and will hopefully lead to a more unified campus. We hope that students continue to press for transparency and their freedom to protest peacefully on campus.
The pepper spray event put UC Davis in the international spotlight. It was a dramatic, intense time for our campus, and it changed the way we as students think of our school.
The event fostered solidarity among UC Davis students, and in some ways it increased the feeling of community on campus, as we saw students come together to stand up for their classmates. We hope that students continue to fight for affordable, quality education.
UC Davis has changed, and whether it is for better or worse, we must acknowledge it. We hope this issue of The California Aggie reveals a broader scope of how November 18 affected our campus and what that means for our future.
