Why I walked Chancellor Katehi out of Surge II

Posted by Rev. Kristin on November 21, 2011 76 comments

At 5pm yesterday, as my family and I left Davis so that I could attend the American Academy of Religion annual meetings in San Francisco, I received a call from Assistant Vice Chancellor Griselda Castro informing me that she, Chancellor Katehi and others were trapped inside Surge II.  She asked if I could mediate between students and administration.  I was reluctant; I had already missed a piece of the meetings due to commitments in Davis and didn’t want to miss any more.  I called a student (intentionally not named here) and learned that students were surrounding the building but had committed to a peaceful, silent exit for those inside and had created a clear walkway to the street.  We turned the car around and headed back to Davis.

When I arrived, there was a walkway out of the building set up, lined on both sides by about 300 students. The students were organized and peaceful. I was cleared to enter the building along with a student who is a part of CA House and has been part of the Occupy movement on campus since the beginning.  He, too, was reluctant, but not because he had somewhere else to be.  For any student to act as a spokesperson or leader is inconsistent with the ethos the Occupy movement.  He entered as an individual seeking peace and resolution, not as a representative of the students, and was clear that he had called for and would continue to call for Chancellor Katehi’s resignation. 

Once inside, and through over an hour of conversation, we learned the following:

  • The Chancellor had made a commitment that police would not be called in this situation
  • Though the message had been received inside the building that students were offering a peaceful exit, there was a concern that not everyone would hold to this commitment
  • The Chancellor had committed to talk with students personally and respond to concerns at the rally on Monday on the quad
  • The student assistants to the Chancellor had organized another forum on Tuesday for the Chancellor to dialogue directly with students

What we felt couldn’t be compromised on was the students’ desire to see and be seen by the Chancellor.  Any exit without face to face contact was unacceptable.  She was willing to do this. We reached agreement that the students would move to one side of the walkway and sit down as a show of commitment to nonviolence. 

Before we left, the Chancellor was asked to view a video of the student who was with me being pepper sprayed. She immediately agreed.  Then, he and I witnessed her witnessing eight minutes of the violence that occurred Friday.  Like a recurring nightmare, the horrific scene and the cries of “You don’t have to do this!” and students choking and screaming rolled again.  The student and I then left the building and using the human mike, students were informed that a request had been made that they move to one side and sit down so that the Chancellor could exit.  They immediately complied, though I believe she could have left peacefully even without this concession.

I returned to the building and walked with the Chancellor down the human walkway to her car.  Students remained silent and seated the entire way.

What was clear to me was that once again, the students’ willingness to show restraint kept us from spiraling into a cycle of violence upon violence.  There was no credible threat to the Chancellor, only a perceived one.  The situation was not hostile.  And what was also clear to me is that whether they admit it or not, the administrators that were inside the building are afraid.  And exhausted.  And human.  And the suffering that has been inflicted is real.  The pain present as the three of us watched the video of students being pepper sprayed was palpable.  A society is only truly free when all persons take responsibility for their actions; it is only upon taking responsibility that healing can come.     

Why did I walk the Chancellor to her car?  Because I believe in the humanity of all persons.  Because I believe that people should be assisted when they are afraid.  Because I believe that in showing compassion we embrace a nonviolent way of life that emanates to those whom we refuse to see as enemies and in turn leads to the change that we all seek.  I am well aware that my actions were looked on with suspicion by some tonight, but I trust that those seeking a nonviolent solution will know that “just means lead to just ends” and my actions offered dignity not harm.

The Chancellor was not trapped in Surge II tonight, but, in a larger sense, we are all in danger of being trapped.  We are trapped when we assent to a culture that for decades, and particularly since 9/11, has allowed law enforcement to have more and more power which has moved us into an era of hypercriminalization. We are trapped when we envision no path to reconciliation.   And we are trapped when we forget our own power.  The students at UC Davis are to be commended for resisting that entrapment, using their own power nonviolently.  I pray that the Chancellor will remember her own considerable power in making change on our campus, and in seeking healing and reconciliation.

Occupy UC Davis

Posted by Rev. Kristin on November 19, 2011 4 comments

On Thursday, November 17, I and a handful of other campus religious leaders met with Assistant Vice Chancellor Griselda Castro and discussed concerns around the campus’ response to students’ expression of solidarity with the Occupy movements around the country, and particularly with UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff harmed last week by police as they protested nonviolently.  My hope was to offer feedback to the administration that their response was at best misguided and insufficient and that open dialogue was deeply needed.  I questioned why police in full riot gear entered Mrak on Wednesday minutes after students who had been asked to leave voluntarily were packing up their things and exiting the building voluntarily. (On Wednesday, I sat with students in the lobby of Mrak after having been prevented from attending a meeting there on the interfaith service initiative that CA House is leading.  The administration had shut down the elevator and locked the door to the stairwell.  When I finally found a way down a set of back stairs to the meeting, I met Chancellor Katehi on the stairway, avoiding contact with the students in the lobby.)  The responses I received from AVC Castro were: 

  • a volunteer committee is communicating with the students for the administration
  • The police were not supposed to be in riot gear and the administration was also not happy about their response
  • The administration is overworked and doing the best they can
  • The Chancellor is unavailable due to her triple booked schedule to move forward her agenda of globalization and internationalization of the university
  • The university’s highest goal is safety

While each of these responses is deeply problematic, perhaps the most concerning is that “the administration’s highest goal is safety.”  This rhetoric is echoed in the Chancellor’s letter to the campus community after the pepper spraying, abuse and arresting of students peacefully protesting on the quad on Friday afternoon.  I thought the university’s highest goals were the education of its students, advocacy of open dialogue, training in critical reflection, character and leadership development and the quest for knowledge, beauty and truth. 

The ironies are overwhelming.  Instead of insuring the stated “highest goal,” the police are violating the safety of the campus community.  If the administration is dismayed about the response of the police, who is in charge?  If certain members of the administration and staff are too overwhelmed due to budget cuts to respond appropriately, are they not also part of the 99%?  I suggested this to AVC Castro and wondered out loud why she didn’t join the Occupiers.  In the nine years I have known AVC Castro I have watched her health deteriorate and her control over her own life wane, all in faithful service to the university.  This is not a rant against any one person, rather a depiction of a disturbingly dysfunctional system, a call for open and democratic dialogue, and a plea for leadership.

The administration, and particularly Chancellor Katehi, MUST commit to meeting with students on Monday on the quad in open dialogue.  Letters and emissaries are not enough.  While she has expressed sadness about the harm suffered by students on Friday, a personal apology is also in order.  When AVC Castro said that the Chancellor is “unavailable due to being triple booked in moving forward her agenda of globalization and internationalization of the university,” I responded that her agenda reads as privatization to students and is part of the problem.  If this is a misperception, it can only be dispelled in an open and transparent forum.  While I have appreciated the Chancellor’s responses to hate crimes on campus, her dramatic increase of the budget of the LGBTRC and her support of women in the academy, she must also be present and effective in leading the university to fulfill the totality of its mission.  This requires careful and ongoing conversation with students, faculty and staff about the increasing climate of criminalization and dehumanization on campus. 

In the meantime, please pray for peaceful, positive and significant change.  Pray for healing.  One of our CA House interns, Tom Zolot, has been a leader in the movement, spoke at the rally on Thursday and is now home healing from being pepper sprayed.  Another of our CA House interns, Emily Pickens-Jones, has been cooking food from the CA House pantry and the Co-op and shuttling warm rations to the students on the quad.  Most students I know are shocked that peaceful protest has come to this.  I urge each member of the campus and city communities to be present on Monday at noon on the UC Davis quad.  We must not let the events of the past week devolve into recriminations and further divisiveness.  The brokenness of our system is certainly clear to us now if anyone had any question before.  Major changes that support the wellness of all in our community—police and student, Sodexho employee and faculty, administration and homeless—are desperately needed.  Healing in a pluralistic context is complex:  some call for forgiveness, while others demand justice in the form of law and consequence, while still others advocate letting go.  Some have no regular experience with a practice that brings healing.  But this does not mean that healing is unachievable.  Healing begins with honesty, humility and a commitment to understand. It begins with showing up.  I hope to see you on the quad on Monday.

A New Look

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 24, 2011 1 comments

Since its inception, this blog has had a rather boring look, so today’s offering is the addition of some formatting, some new tags and some pictures, with more coming.  Our hope is to integrate the visual identity of any of our staff blogs with the soon to be updated CA House website.

We Are the Stories We Tell

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 21, 2011 None comments

In 2010, September 11 fell on the festival of Eid-ul-fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan, and many in the Muslim and interfaith community were concerned that the joyous celebration would be misunderstood as a celebration commemorating 9-11.  At the same time, a pastor in Gainesville, Florida was threatening to hold a Qur’an burning, and thousands were vehemently protesting the building of an Islamic community center new ground zero in New York City.  The United Methodist Church in Davis hosted a service of solidarity on 9-11, and the following is the speech I gave at that event.

We Are the Stories We Tell

Thankfully, the pastor of a small church in Florida has called off his vile plan to burn Qur’ans today.  Also, thankfully, the international outcry as the media cycle on this proposed action spun out of control was loud and forceful, but it is deeply concerning that there was enough support for this terribly offensive event that the pastor felt justified for weeks and days in his ongoing intent for the immolation of the holiest of books in Islam.  As a Christian, this intolerance and disrespect by a pastor and his church shames and saddens me.  Not only is this not a reflection of the love of neighbor that Jesus taught, it is violent, hateful and wrong.

It is my understanding that for Muslims, the Qur’an is less like the Christian Bible than it is like our understanding of Jesus Christ himself.  By this, I mean that the Qur’an is more like incarnation than it is like a collection of history, teachings and scripture; it is the living word of God as incarnated through Mohammed, peace be upon him, the messenger, just like Jesus is for Christians the Word who was with God and was God and is God(John 1:1).  For Christians, it would be abhorrent to countenance the burning of the Holy Bible, but this Qur’an burning is really more akin to the burning of Christ, a twenty-first century trial and condemnation by an ignorant and unjust jury, and an attempt at annihilation of a way of life, a way of being faithful and a way of knowing God.  In this instance, the proposed site was a church in Gainesville as opposed to a cross in Golgotha, but the spiritual impact would have been similarly deeply felt.

We are all here today because we do not want to see the mistakes or hateful acts of the past repeated.  I thank you for being here today.  While the tragic events of 9-11 caused untold damage and are beyond regrettable, we have at least, seen countless examples since that time of Christians and Muslims, Muslims and Jews, neighbors from the diversity of faith found in America, coming together in new and profound ways to counter the hate exemplified in the attacks.  The Multifaith Living Community at the Cal Aggie Christian Association is one such example.  In the fall of 2000, the board approved the pursuit of a vision to build student housing on our property.  After 9-11 that vision became clearer as we saw the possibility of making that student community an intentionally multifaith place to respond to the hurt and misunderstanding engendered by 9-11.  And the blessing and interreligious understanding that has come out of that community has been tremendous.

And so let us all be in prayer today that we can continue to reframe who we are as people of faith in this country.  The world is watching as some of our fellow country persons succumb to their fear and protest the building of an Islamic Center at Park 51, two blocks away from ground zero, and it is watching as we find ways to stand together in unity, and to serve to bring about peace, healing and justice.  In the weeks to come, let us provide a hundred, a thousand stories that might be picked up by the media and become the talk of the international community that show people of faith expressing love and hope, stories that show the power of building up instead of tearing down.  And let each of us, in our own daily lives, tell those stories as opposed to the ones that further fear and brokenness.  We are the stories we tell, and we will decide a hopeful or hateful future based on the stories we choose.  Again, thanks to each of you for being here today and I look forward to our common future together as people of faith.

So Long, Winter

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 20, 2011 1 comments

As we say goodbye to winter this weekend, I offer this from Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson.  Keep love alive.  (Thanks, EJJ!)

Winter Song

Peter King Epilogue

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 19, 2011 None comments

Though the birth of interfaith engagement as a movement dates to the first Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893, since the 1960s and 70s and particularly since 9/11, there has been a tremendous amount of work done to build bridges between persons of different faiths. Our own Multifaith Living Community is one example of those efforts. Still, I have found that often it is difficult to move interreligious communities and events past the stage of friendly mutual acknowledgement. Currently, I’m working on a Ph.D. at the Graduate Theological Union, and on Thursdays I go to Berkeley for my Christian-Muslim dialogue seminar. I hoped that from this class I would learn of cases and methodologies that would foster a deepening of relationships and develop a facility for dealing with the complexity of pluralism. Though there are a number of deeply committed and faithful persons working on interreligious cooperation and communication, many questions about how to do this work in significant and effective ways remain.

So I’ve been thinking about different ways to start conversations, to get to deeper issues, to engage beyond the usual suspects, to stretch and grow. One thing I do know is that to really grow in understanding, it takes risk and the willingness to be uncomfortable, at least for awhile. My recent post on the Peter King hearings was unlike most of my writing—it was somewhat vitriolic and usually I’m striving for a balanced, more grace-filled position. In addition to posting this piece to the blog, I also posted it to facebook and sent it to our local newspaper. The feedback I’ve received has been mixed, but I have to say, even though I felt uncomfortable and exposed as each successive piece of feedback rolled in, and someone I don’t know looked up my number and called me at home, at least I was in conversation with persons I’m not typically talking to about religious or political issues.

Dialogue on the internet has its drawbacks. It’s inherently impersonal which I think leads to saying (writing) things that contain more rhetoric and are less careful than when we are face to face. When we don’t actually know the person we’re in conversation with, this intensifies. But the nature of the internet also allows us to make strong statements about what we believe to persons in our broad circles of relationship when a face to face conversation might never get to much depth. The most enlightening interaction was with a person I do know, but haven’t seen in many years, who lives in another state. Though we saw the Peter King hearings differently, we agreed on some points, disagreeing on others. I learned something from the interaction, and heard points that no one in my regular networks was making. My understanding of the complexity of the issue deepened. I have to believe, though, that the quality of this interaction was fruitful because we do actually know each other, and care about and respect each other, perhaps an important foundation for ongoing dialogue and further learning.

Risking isn’t just about making strong, perhaps controversial statements. It’s also about trying out different ways of going beyond our comfort zones to connect with persons who have different world views and experiences. So I guess I owe Peter King a debt of gratitude for being the catalyst for connection between me and an old friend. And this is the hope of dialogue: that even in our differences, even in conversation about a process that stereotypes and objectifies like the Peter King hearings, if we are honest and courageous in our engagement, the person with whom we are talking becomes more multi-dimensional and so do we.

This is already really challenging and it’s only been a week

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 17, 2011 1 comments

One of my favorites from Mary Oliver

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Mary Oliver

Little Easters

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 15, 2011 None comments

You may have noticed I didn’t post anything yesterday (such vanity to believe that anyone is tracking this daily). The Sundays in Lent are supposed to be “little Easters” when we get a break from whatever we’re trying to add in or give up, when we get to celebrate new life and resurrection. And I can tell you it was a welcome break to not post anything yesterday. We need these little Easters, not because we are weak, but as a reminder that there is always grace.

Saturday

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 12, 2011 None comments

We’re heading to Napa today to celebrate the earth and her fruits, and so I offer this from Wendell Berry, hero of the land and those who love words:

MANIFESTO: THE MAD FARMER LIBERATION FRONT

by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay.
Want more of everything made.
Be afraid to know you neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery any more.
Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something they will call you.
When they want you to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute.
Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace the flag.
Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands.
Give you approval to all you cannot understand.
Praise ignorance,
for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium.
Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion–put your ear close,
and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world.
Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable.
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap for power,
please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head in her lap.
Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and politicos can predict the motions
of your mind, lose it.
Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn’t go.
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Copyright Wendell Berry

Dear Peter King

Posted by Rev. Kristin on March 11, 2011 1 comments

Dear Peter King (you don’t represent me),

Do you really want to go down in history as another McCarthy, the man who history has judged to symbolize this country’s participation in the some of the worst sins of the twentieth century?  Do you really need attention that badly?  You say you are looking for extremists to keep our country safe, but Peter, have you looked in the mirror?  Because you’ll find one there.  You and your buddies have hijacked my country and flown your jet into the twin towers of compassion and justice.  What you are doing doesn’t make me think you are strong.  It makes me think you are weak.

You heard testimony yesterday from two people who had relatives who became extremists while worshipping in a mosque.  So what?  Every human institution has its crazies and manifestations of the brokenness in our world; I’m a Christian pastor and I should know.  You’ve proved nothing.  Your name, Peter, means ‘rock’ but you are providing no foundation for stability, for peace, for anyone.  Communities like mine will be cleaning up the mess you are making now for decades to come.  I have a family, Peter, and friends, who wonder where I’ve been while I’ve been trying to build structures of relationship and understanding across religious difference, structures that you and your hearings hack away at every day.

What you are doing will not bring us more security!  But I’ll tell you what will.  Give up your need for money and fame.  Wake up every morning and seek to understand, not to judge.  See each person for who she or he is, and know that we are all more than our labels and identities, and less.  Stop believing in your own almighty power.  Admit to people what really scares you:  that ultimately you cannot control the world and what happens and that chaos and disaster will continue to break into our lives.  But commit not to contribute to that brokenness because of your fear. 

Because guess what, Peter.  The real work of creating security and of dealing with all of the difference in our world that might feel scary or threatening just because it’s unknown isn’t sensational.  It doesn’t turn us into celebrities and it doesn’t happen in a few weeks.  It’s about eating with people and being invited into their homes and places of worship.  It’s about choosing to use your time to watch a movie like Arranged or The Bubble or One instead of Black Hawk Down or The Siege.  It’s about being willing to be uncomfortable but stay in conversation when you encounter someone whose worldview really is different from you own.  At times this work can be exhilarating and at times it can be very tedious, but it matters.

It’s not too late, Peter.  It’s Lent and you are a Christian.  Repent.  Turn toward life and away from the death that you are creating.

With all the compassion I can muster at the moment,

Kristin