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UC Davis Spent $175,000 To Bury Search Results After Cops Pepper-Sprayed Protestors (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The University of California, Davis spent at least $175,000 to improve its reputation on the internet after images of campus police pepper-spraying protestors went viral in 2011, according to documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee. The money went to public relations firms that promised to clean up the university's search results. One company outlined a plan for "eradication of references to the pepper spray incident," according to the documents, and was eventually paid nearly $93,000, including expenses, for a six-month campaign in 2013. After that, the Bee reports, the university paid $82,500 to another PR firm to create and follow through on a "search engine results management strategy." The latter firm was later given thousands more in other contracts to build a university social media program, and to vet its communications department.
The Streisand effect strikes again. I find it justice that by news outlets reporting that UC Davis paid to cleanse the web of the incident means that people will be reminded of the incident.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Money well spent. Bad news spreads faster than the good variety, and its lifespan is in direct proportion to its infamy.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Once it's on the internet, it is there to stay. Even if you delete it moments later. It's like sending a Recall Message request when you send an incorrect email. You're really just giving everyone on the email a heads up that you screwed up, and they'll probably still have the message to read. And people will read it when they otherwise might have ignored it because they see you're trying to hide it. If you made a mistake, own up to it and it will go away faster than any cover up you can possibly come up with.
to bury the burial.
Looks like their investment was worth it, because now the first result on Google is a news article about them trying to clear pepper spray references from the internet.
They could have submitted a "Right to be Forgotten" request to Google. Oh wait, this isn't Europe. Nevermind.
Know what else is great for your reputation? Not acting like a bunch of fucking assholes. And it's free!
We all make mistakes. As a person and as an institution. With the internet the mistakes we take come back to haunt us over and over again.
Never mind the fact that there are a lot of protesters who try to make a martyr out of themselves by walking the line and pushing the peace keepers to their limits, Just to show how bad the people are.
Bad things are easy to explain and gets people's attention. Good things are often complex and boring. So we now live our lives judged bases on our lives at our worst never us at our best.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
... the fact that Davis tried to bury this in the first place, or that they were gullible enough to flush $175K down the toilet for that kind of scam.
Actually, the "low-paid security guard" was a Lieutenant in the UC Davis Campus police. Likely earning in the US$60-70K region . . .
Hired PR can paper over the effects of an errant email, but if you try to erase a news event, you just spammed Barbra Streisand.
The appropriate response to a lone wolf security guard from a PR standpoint is to issue a statement that it was the act of a single guard, that guard has been sacked, and measures have been put in place to prevent it from happening again. It would have gotten some finger-wagging and ultimately blown-over.
Pursuing a cover-up campaign makes it look a lot more sinister, indicating (right or wrong) that the university supports the behavior, and we get to dig the story back up in the future like we are now. It reinforces the idea that the guard's actions were indeed representative of the university.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Welcome to teh intarWebz, UC Davis!
Your employee's casual callousness has earned you a permanent place in the memeverse firmaminment. Deal with it. Just lie back, relax and wait for the next funny cat video to take the internet by storm.
Sigh.
The fuckers that tried to cover up the facts should be fired.
The fuckers that don't understand th webs should be fired.
The fuckers that squandered taxpayer money covering their asses should be fired.
The fuckers that gave that scumbag John Pike (pepper spray cop) worker's comp should be fired.
That fucker John Pike should be fired. (he was)
Hey, at least they weren't using bullets this time, so we've made progress.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Your tuition fees at work. Shouldn't that money be spent on a good education?
bickerdyke
The fact that a no-name college felt it had $175K to burn on PR tells you everything you really need to know about college affordability: there's plenty of fat at the top. Cut that first and maybe people can start buying their education with proceeds from their summer job (and have a little left over for beer) again.
That counts as low pay in California, doesn't it?
Unless you live in SF or Palo Alto or something that is fine, and you can live on it. There's plenty of communities outside Davis where you can live nicely on that. It might be a little tight for a family in Davis.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
"According to a database of state worker salaries, he earned $119,067 in 2011, the last year for which figures are available."
He received $38,000 in workman's compensation for the suffering he experienced after the event, which isn't included in the salary figure.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics...
Lt John Pike of UC Davis received $38k in compensation for the trauma he suffered which was 8k more than the protesters he assaulted.
And the winner of the annual competition for the Streisand effect trophy is!!!
Elok
Even if you don't live in California a good percentage of the money UC has is from Government grants. You not only paid for the officer pepper spraying people who were sitting and completely peaceful, but you paid for the huge amount of Government propaganda surrounding the incident _and_ the coverup. That you paid for it all should really really piss you off.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
The appropriate response to a lone wolf security guard from a PR standpoint is to issue a statement that it was the act of a single guard
Hey, Junior, RTFM. It wasn't a "security guard", it was a fucking cop. It wasn't just the school that paid this guy's salary, it was all of us.
Pursuing a cover-up campaign makes it look a lot more sinister, indicating (right or wrong) that the university supports the behavior
They do. That's why their own personal police department (and schools very much do set the tone for their PDs) is hiring people who think that pepper spraying peaceful protesters is a good idea.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
For those with a short memory or foreigners, here's the Wikipedia page about the incident.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Especially funny is the following fact:
"In October 2013, a judge ruled that Lt. John Pike, the lead pepper sprayer, would be paid $38,000 in worker's compensation benefits, to compensate for his psychological pain and suffering."
Which also means he was acting on orders from superiors.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Multiple officers pepper sprayed the students. And not one officer stopped the incident.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
They need to get their money back. I started to type "UC Davis ..." into a search engine and auto complete filled in " ... pepper spray".
Have gnu, will travel.
Meet Barbara Streisand.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Well, it was a campus police officer which is in the gray area. The reason it's a "cop" instead of a "security guard" is because the institution is run by the government instead of a private organization. Otherwise it's the same as a security guard. "Who pays" for that "cop" is a matter of how you think about the funding of public colleges -- and remember that private colleges get a lot of "public" money, too. I think you've made a distinction with no difference.
It's probably a good idea to link to some references about the University of California, Davis pepper spray incident.
http://peppersprayingcop.tumbl...
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
UC Davis motto: "Let There Be Light." As long as, you know, it doesn't reflect poorly on us or give donors and student cash-cows pause...
Multiple students had the chance to leave and not be pepper sprayed, and not one of them stopped what they were doing.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
How long until protesters always show up wearing eye protection and gas masks to begin with? As the Boy Scouts motto states, "Be Prepared!"
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
and routes around it."
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
My dad used to teach at a community college, He secured a $200,000 grant from industry to teach electronics. The college proceed to take HALF the grant money for "adminstrative overhead", and he was left with the other half to buy equipment for the class. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment is not cheap...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Multiple students had the chance to leave and not be pepper sprayed, and not one of them stopped what they were doing.
Yes blaming the victim. "Multiple people had the chance not to be shot by not working for San Bernandino county." "Multiple students at UT Austin had the chance not to be shot by a sniper by staying home." I believe the 1st Amendment says something about allowing people "peaceably to assemble." Do you have another point?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
If you have every opportunity to remove yourself from a situation, and don't, that doesn't make you a victim. And you cheapen what it means to be a REAL victim.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
If you have every opportunity to remove yourself from a situation, and don't, that doesn't make you a victim. And you cheapen what it means to be a REAL victim.
"If you have every opportunity to remove yourself from being assaulted while exercising your Constitutional rights by dressing provocatively, it really is your fault." Do you say that to rape victims? The right to protest is the 1st Amendment. Not 356th. 1st Amendment. Sitting on the ground does not give anyone the right to be assaulted. And by the way, have you ever been pepper sprayed? It's painful and you lessening someone's pain cheapens your arguments.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
"lone wolf? Under direction of university staff?"
The Cossacks work for the Czar.
... fat lot of good it did them.
Gotta love the Streissand Effect.
There are 35,000 students enrolled at UC Davis, that comes to about $5/student - I wonder if there's anything else the campus could have spent that money on that might have actually benefited the students?
Ken
that sucks. is there any way that they could have donated the needed equipment instead?
As as student at UCD (Go Ags!) during that incident, I was more annoyed that the protesters around the time kept blocking roads/freeways and keeping us Physics/Engineering students from getting to class! I understand their right to protest, but knowing that a chunk of them spent their settlement money on pot farms in Northern Northern California (Redding area) kinda pissed me off after the fact. I would've spent it on the darn expensive tuition. Also, it should be known that the officers involved had very poor communication with their leadership, and that probably helped lead to the less than stellar handling of the situation. Of course, this is all a single opinion, and this will be disputed, but that was my take. As some have said, it is kind of funny that they spend so much money to hide it and it pops up again BECAUSE they spent to much. Serves them right in that sense. Done rambling. Thanks for your time.
I understand their right to protest, but knowing that a chunk of them spent their settlement money on pot farms in Northern Northern California (Redding area) kinda pissed me off after the fact. I would've spent it on the darn expensive tuition.
Sounds like you need to go business school. I wouldn't put that money back into that community, either.
Also, it should be known that the officers involved had very poor communication with their leadership, and that probably helped lead to the less than stellar handling of the situation.
Bullshit. Their leadership has obviously communicated to them that it's okay to treat students like cattle. Worse than, actually. We try not to scare cattle on their way to the hydraulic hammer. It's inconvenient.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"