Faculty senate to take up no-confidence resolution

The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate has scheduled a special meeting to take up a series of resolutions prompted by the Nov. 9 campus confrontation between police and Occupy Cal protesters.

Forty-seven Berkeley faculty members initially asked for the meeting to vote on a resolution of no-confidence in Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Harry Le Grande.

Separate resolutions offered by other faculty since then call on the UC Berkeley administration to immediately implement recommendations made by the campus Police Review Board in the wake of 2009’s takeover of Wheeler Hall, to better train police “to employ nonviolent law enforcement that respects the rights of nonviolent protesters” and to set explicit limits on the use of police force in response to nonviolent protests involving Berkeley students.

“This is how the faculty gets together to deliberate on significant issues,” said Senate Chair Bob Jacobsen, “and I encourage faculty to come and take part.”

The resolutions, as well as other details of the special meeting, are posted on the Academic Senate website. The session is set for Monday, Nov. 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Chevron Auditorium at International House.