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Campus administration sends message to D.A. about November-protest charges

By Public Affairs

On March 14, Chancellor Birgeneau and Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost Breslauer sent a letter to the Alameda County District Attorney, concerning charges brought against students and faculty arrested during a Nov. 9, 2011 protest outside Sproul Hall. Their letter reads as follows:

District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley

Alameda County District Attorney’s Office
1225 Fallon Street, Suite 900
Oakland, CA 94612

Dear District Attorney O’Malley:

As of this morning, 359 faculty members have signed a petition asking the campus leadership to urge you to drop all charges against students and faculty who were among the protestors on the Berkeley campus on November 9, 2011. We are forwarding the faculty petition to inform you of the position of many faculty on campus.  Please see the web link at: http://www.change.org/petitions/berkeley-faculty-association-birgeneau-should-condemn-criminal-charges-against-nov-9-2011-protesters#

We do not have access to the evidence reviewed by your office showing the actions of individuals, and are not taking a definitive position regarding the appropriateness of individual charges. Nevertheless, we want to remind you of our amnesty from the Student Conduct process for students charged with misdemeanors on November 9.  We urge you to be sensitive to the context of the campus environment and to the strong feelings this has raised on campus, as reflected in the petition.

Yours sincerely,

Robert J. Birgeneau
Chancellor, University of California Berkeley

George Breslauer
Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost