Katehi defends role in police return to Greek campuses
During a tense two minutes Monday during which she apologized to thousands on the Quad for the recent arrest and pepper-spraying of peaceful protesters, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi struggled against tears when referencing Nov. 17, 1973.
“I was there, and I don’t want to forget that,” she said.
Many in the crowd likely were unsure of the date’s meaning.
Now, though, in an odd twist, the legacy of that day — when Katehi herself was a student activist in her native Greece — has opened a new line of criticism of the embattled chancellor.
In December 2010, Katehi took part on a panel of international experts that recommended Greece end a decades-old asylum law that effectively kept police off its campuses.
She and others felt the law was long abused by thugs. Others say it was later abolished in a crackdown against