http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/UC-Davis-pepper-spraye...
Would we be so upset with Obama if the response to the NSA revelations was the firing of the NSA leadership, a solid investigation of wrongdoings, firing of those found to have been guilty of abusing their powers, and reparations to those wrongfully convicted under evidence unlawfully gathered by the NSA?
You're right. Like most crimes, it would have been better if it hadn't been committed. I was thinking specifically about UCD's response, which I still think was reasonable, and timely. Pike lost his job, that's about all that the Uni has the power to do to him, and about all they ought to have the power to do to him. I am disappointed (but not surprised) that the DA didn't charge Pike with official oppression, or something (I'm not a DA, so I don't know what charges would be appropriate or winnable.) But police brutality is a serious problem everywhere in the US, not just the UCD campus. It is difficult to get police to find fault in the behavior of police, and also difficult to get DA's to charge police with a crime. Maybe we should expect more from UCD, but I think the responsibility lies elsewhere. I don't like it when organizations (such as UCD) are able to bring substantial pressure on law enforcement organizations for direct action. I also think it is worth mentioning that less than a year passed between the incident and the settlement, which is crazy fast. UCD could have opted for the ever popular wait-them-out strategy, in which case we'd all forget about it before anything useful happened.
30 days later I got an email from the Chancellor. There was no mention of the pepper spraying -- she was instead asking for money. Looking myself for the results of the investigation, it found her largely at fault for gross mismanagement of the situation. So she asked for money instead.
There are major major donors to the University, the kind of people who have buildings named after them. I had heard that these people demanded the resignation of the chancellor, along with the academic senate and most of the students. She's still there, asking for donations.