UCLA officials held a town hall-style discussion Wednesday night
to facilitate conversation between students and university
officials regarding the Nov. 14 Taser incident.
The forum, which was organized by the faculty-in-residence
program, included eight faculty in residence as well as Bob Naples,
assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, and Nancy
Greenstein, director of university police community services.
“When the (Taser incident) happened, many students I spoke
to were upset, ashamed and frightened,” said Todd Presner, a
professor of Germanic languages who spoke on the panel. “It
is important to achieve dialogue so students can (express) how they
feel.”
But student turnout was sparse, with nine students present
throughout the course of the discussion.
Evan Shulman, a third-year cognitive science student, attributed
the low turnout to dead week and finals. “As a resident
assistant I tried to get my floor to attend, but most told me they
were too busy to come,” Shulman said.
Shulman said he came to express his views on the incident in a
structured environment.
“This is a good way for students to come together and hear
different sides of the story. I had a different perspective from
most on this incident, and this is a constructive place to share my
opinions,” Shulman said.
But none of the students in attendance actually spoke during the
discussion. Instead, they listened to faculty members and
university officials.
Stacy Nishida, an undeclared second-year student, said she came
to see different perspectives expressed.
“It is interesting to see faculty perspectives on this
matter, since we have mostly only heard the student side,”
said Nishida.
One angle of the discussion was the importance of YouTube in the
highly publicized incident. Presner said various videos of the
incident had garnered over 1.7 million views on YouTube.
He also said many students made their own videos expressing
opinions on the incident and uploaded them on YouTube.
“The powerful audio and imagery of the video gave students
an emotional connection to the incident that would not have been
possible otherwise,” Presner said.
Duncan Lindsey, a sociology professor, said the incident was
painful to watch and did not keep up with his view of UCLA, while
Robert Rhoads, an education professor, questioned why such serious
force was used.
But Naples said library patrons are required to show a valid
BruinCard after 11 p.m. for students’ safety.
He stopped short of taking a stand on the matter, saying he
looked forward to the results of the pending investigation on the
incident.
Greenstein urged students not to stereotype the university
police officers.
“Many officers were distressed with how (students)
categorized them after the incident,” Greenstein said, adding
that UCPD has a strong bond with the UCLA community.