In November 2011 the worldwide Occupy Movement reached the campus of the University of California at Davis. Protesters staging a sit-down strike were pepper-sprayed by UC Davis campus police in riot gear. It wasn’t a pretty picture, and outrage spread across the country and the Web. Now the Sacramento Bee has discovered that the UC Davis administration spent at least $175,000 trying to scrub bad publicity about the ugly incident from the Internet and repair the school’s reputation.
Understandably, news of the cover-up attempt has sparked fresh outrage, new campus demonstrations, and calls for the Chancellor’s resignation. And, despite the scrubbing effort, the 2011 UC Davis pepper spray incident is now a Google trending topic.
More:
“UC Davis gets caught in a PR coverup,” San Francisco Chronicle editorial
In case you forgot the 2011 incident:
Update:
“UC-Davis chancellor placed on administrative leave after revelations of ‘scrubbing’ Internet,” Fred Barbash, Washington Post
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Tags: Davis, excessive force, higher eduction, Internet, pepper spray\, public relations, reputation, reputation repair, Sacramento Bee, student protests, UC Davis, University of California, web
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