Robert J. Birgeneau - 2011 Occupy Cal Protest Incident

2011 Occupy Cal Protest Incident

With calls by students to occupy the UC Berkeley campus, Chancellor Birgeneau sent a letter, dated November 7, 2011, to the campus community stating "Any activities such as pulling fire alarms, occupying buildings, setting up encampments, graffiti, or other destructive actions that disrupt with anyone's ability to conduct regular activities -- go to class, study, carry out their research, etc. -- will not be tolerated." On November 9, 2011, UC Berkeley students attempted to build an Occupy encampment at Sproul Plaza to protest the financial handling of the state's higher education system. The students were met by UC Berkeley police and Alameda County sheriff's deputies in riot gear. The students tried to set up tents but were stopped by the police and seven students were arrested. A second altercation occurred in the evening when students joined arms and chanted "hold the line" and "the whole world is watching" while police approached with riot batons and bean-bag guns. Six UC Berkeley students and one faculty member were arrested for resisting police officers. These events succeeded previous police and student altercations on the Berkeley campus related to the occupation of Wheeler Hall in 2009.

Later in the day, Chancellor Birgeneau issued a statement saying "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." Some UC Berkeley faculty and students later circulated a petition and condemned the actions of Birgeneau and his administration by saying, "We are deeply disturbed by the images of violence against members of the campus community, as well as the justification and defense of these acts that followed". A further 2,363 faculty and staff stated, "We express no confidence in the willingness of the Chancellor, and other leaders of the UC Berkeley administration, to respond appropriately to student protests, to secure student welfare, and to respect freedom of speech and assembly on the Berkeley campus".

With support from other student governments including UC Davis, Brown, and Harvard, the ASUC, UC Berkeley's student government, passed a resolution condemning the police brutality against students on the November 9 Day of Action. The ASUC has worked to raise awareness around issues like police brutality highlighted by the Occupy incident. In a packed auditorium at International House, Berkeley's Academic Senate also considered a series of resolutions, all of which passed with overwhelming support. An earlier version of one of those resolutions would have expressed no confidence in Birgeneau and other senior campus administrators, but it was amended before the actual vote to stop short of expressing no confidence, while clearly condemning the handling of the situation. While much of the energy around Occupy dissipated during the campus winter vacation, subsequent encampments have been set up as recently as mid-February 2012 outside the International House at the corner of Bancroft and Piedmont. Just prior to the announcement of his resignation, students had circulated a petition for a referendum calling for his resignation. This bill reached the ASUC where it was voted down by ASUC senators from the Student Action party.