Tuesday, February 17, 1998
Community Briefs
Report says Berkeley police too rough
UC police officers acted indiscriminately and used excessive
force when they clubbed and pepper sprayed student protesters in UC
Berkeley’s Sproul Hall last year, according to documents prepared
by a university-retained attorney and obtained by The Daily
Californian.
The papers are part of a confidential report authored by
attorney Gregory Fox at the request of the university’s Police
Review Board. The report contradicts an internal police review that
concluded that officers acted appropriately.
Meanwhile, a source close to the university’s investigation of
the incident said the review board is looking into whether the
protest was mishandled because the UC police’s top brass were out
of town at the time of the protest, leaving a less experienced
officer in charge of the situation.
Fox said in his report that several police actions, including
clubbing protesters on their backs and heads, violated the
department’s policy. The attorney’s conclusions are expected to
figure prominently in the board’s final recommendation, expected
sometime this semester.
During the April 28 incident, more than 50 students took over
and locked down Sproul Hall with U-shaped bicycle locks to protest
the passage of Proposition 209. In order to keep the crowd from
advancing further into the building, police officers formed a line
cordoning off the main hallway of the building. When protesters
tried to break the police barrier, officers swung batons and doused
the protesters with pepper spray.
The protesters said that because they were unarmed, the police
officers were "bullies" whose actions were unjustified.
But police said their use of pepper spray was in self-defense
against students charging toward them.
Fox used media and police videotapes of the incident to reach
his conclusion. According to Fox’s report, some protesters were
dealt baton strikes when they were on the ground – an action the
attorney called "unreasonable and excessive."
"It is not obvious from our view of the videotapes whether the
use of batons on persons lying on the ground was self-defense or
retaliation," the report stated. "We also believe striking persons
in the back or in the head normally should be considered outside of
policy."
Chair endowed for women’s research
Dr. Karen Smith-McCune, a leading women’s health researcher, has
become the first person appointed to an endowed chair focusing on
women’s cancer research.
The Kerner Endowed Chair at Mount Zion Medical Center was
established to honor Dr. John A. Kerner, a former chief of
obstetrics and gynecology at the center.
Smith-McCune, an assistant professor at UC San Francisco, has
been the director of the UCSF Dysplasia Clinic since July 1991.
Smith-McCune is remarkable, colleagues said, because her
research is designed to improve health care for women on an
international level.
"My mission is to describe potential markers of cervical cancer
and its precursors, which will lead to the development of improved
treatment and diagnosis," Smith-McCune said. "My work is very
synergetic with Dr. Kerner’s and builds upon the foundation he laid
with Pap smears."
During Kerner’s residency studies at UCSF, he helped develop the
Pap smear, which drastically reduced the instances of cervical
cancer.
Outside of the UCSF medical community, Smith-McCune is a strong
supporter of public education. She is a member of the Board of
Directors of the San Francisco Education Fund, which grants awards
to outstanding teachers.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.