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.

Comments

Irony

[UnknowingFool]

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.

Re:Irony

[Anonymous Coward]

Everything and everyone is for sale.

Despite the fact that every C-suite critter masturbates furiously over every report published by Gartner, their work is often total shit and sold to the highest bidder. They do this Magic Quadrant shit where they "rate" software, processes, companies, Lego building blocks, etc. You have the opportunity to "buy" your way up to better rankings, depending on how much you "contribute" to the "study." Then when it's best and final offer time... they get more bold and they will come at you with stuff like "Yeah, despite your software actually working as promised, we're rating you a 2 in Category X. For $25k, you can buy your way up to a 3"

So it's all a big sales game and ultimately the companies with deep pockets can buy their way to the top of the recommendation list. Nothing new there. Pretty much business as usual, actually.

Re:Irony

[Darinbob]

I was at a company that did this, at least we think they paid it. We were in the wrong quadrant for a long time. Then we had a new marketing campaign with a new slogan ("Synergy"). That week were were suddenly in the correct quadrant, and Gartner said "XYZ finally gets it!". But we changed no line of code, did not change any customer support process, added no new products, etc. Nothing at all had changed in the company except for the marketing campaign. Then my boss mentioned that it was possible that we bought our way up, after which I never again paid any attention to whatever the morons at Gartner said (unless I needed a laugh).

Clearly

[rmdingler]

Money well spent. Bad news spreads faster than the good variety, and its lifespan is in direct proportion to its infamy.

Re:Clearly

[ThatsMyNick]

That is not what they want to get rid of. They dont want the top results for a "uc davis" image search to show the iconic pepper spray image. It looks like they have succeeded, everything that shows up is pure PR pics. A google search for "uc davis" although bring ups the wikipedia page of the pepper spray incident in the top results. The rest is PR. As the dust settles, I imagine even that wont show up or they will hire experienced wikipedia editors (the ones that know how to stone wall things by using archaic wikipedia rules) and clean it up.

Someone who knows enough to add "pepper spray" to the search terms are not the ones they are worried about.

Right to be forgotten

[jfdavis668]

They could have submitted a "Right to be Forgotten" request to Google. Oh wait, this isn't Europe. Nevermind.

Reputation management

[Anonymous Coward]

Know what else is great for your reputation? Not acting like a bunch of fucking assholes. And it's free!

Re:Reputation management

[sjames]

The Officers had no clear path to leave by.

You mean other than stepping over the sitting students, as they did before they pepper sprayed them.

A world where we will never be forgiven.

[jellomizer]

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.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[squiggleslash]

I don't know if you saw the picture, but the protesters here were sitting down with linked arms, not in any way threatening the "peace" officer or pushing him to his limit. So while your point may be justified in some contexts, this isn't one of them.

What I find interesting is that this case highlights the university's complicity with the violent act meted out upon peaceful protesters. Fifty years down the line, without these attempts to scrub the world clean of "that photo", it would have been linked to one bad officer whose employer's fault is giving him the job in the first place. But by trying to whitewash the incident, the university is effectively saying "Actually, this was us, employing violent thugs is policy, not an accident, and we abhor peaceful protest. We believe this so strongly we're willing to spend $175k on rehabilitating the reputations of those we employ to harm others."

Which is... revealing.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bleah.

The trick is to not treat all the protesters as a unified mass. If one protestor kicks policemen or throws poo around, knock him down with force and let the peaceful types boo & yell their slogans. And if internet journalism shows a video of security knocking him to the ground with heavy blows, just follow up with commentary or your own press release (universities have very visible web pages.)

"A protestor crossed the line and threw stuff. He doesn't do that anymore now that he's in hospital with a fractured skull. We tolerate peaceful protests only — live by the sword, die by the sword and all that."

Pepper spray (or weapons) makes sense if protesters/provocatuers attack first - otherwise not. Thinking that stuff can be covered up, is hilarious. Even if they succeeded, some student org might remember and hold a yearly memorial or some such. The best weapon against bad press is another press, or just wait for someone else to make the next scandal that overshadow this one.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, my dear fascist, do tell me how people sitting on the ground can "surround" an officer.

"They could have pulled out their billy clubs and started beating on the students."

Late 1930's Germany called, they want you back.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[UnknowingFool]

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.

Well if you watched the video of the incident (and by your comment it doesn't seem like it), the protestors were sitting down and not threatening anyone. Should they have been arrested and taken away? In my opinion yes they were trespassing. But pepper spraying them before they gave any resistance means force was the first option. It wasn't the only video of police spraying protestors without any reason.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[UnknowingFool]

The students also had the police officers surrounded, had been asked and ordered to move. Had been shown the pepper spray and told what would happen if they did not move to allow the police officers through. The students were blocking a main thoroughfare of the campus, and preventing the officers from doing their jobs, heck the officers were surrounded they were even being prevented from leaving the scene.

The African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama were surrounded by police and were shown the police dogs and fire hoses if they did not disperse. The protestors were blocking a main street in Birmingham preventing traffic. Heck, the officers were surrounded and prevented from leaving the scene.

In short the students had every chance to avoid it. They deserved what they got. The School needs to grow a pair and back their officers who acted appropriately. They could have pulled out their billy clubs and started beating on the students.

In short, the African Americans had every chance to avoid it. They got what they deserved. The South needs to grow a pair and back their officers who acted appropriately. They did pull out their billy clubs and started beating on protestors.

Lack of context, much?

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[Anonymous Coward]

"A police officer crossed the line and punched someone without cause. The officer doesn't do that anymore now that he's in hospital with a fractured skull. We tolerate lawful activities only — live by the sword, die by the sword and all that."

Doesn't sound so pleasant now does it? In fact in todays society those "assaulting" the officer would almost certainly be hunted down and prosecuted with extreme prejudice. So why is it OK when the police do it? I agree that police should arrest those committing crimes, not targeting general protestors (as seems to be the rule rather than the exception). And protestors should be fine with police moving freely through the crowd keeping the peace. The reason why we are in the boat we're in though is decades of animosity because in some cases police used thinly veiled "safety" reasoning to try to break up protests & protestors didn't react very well towards watching people being beaten in front of their eyes or lines of heavily armored "peace officers" towards them shouting "this is an "unlawful" protest, disband" over a bullhorn.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[harrkev]

Ok, my dear fascist, do tell me how people sitting on the ground can "surround" an officer.

Clearly, you need to look up the definition of the word "surround." There were a LOT more students and officers. Given that the officers do not have wings, and could probably not pole-vault even if they had the poles, surrounding is certainly possible.

Here is a video showing what happened; not just the pepper spraying, but everything leading up to it. Around 7:30 you can see the officer telling the protestors individually that if they do not move, they will be sprayed and then saying "Do you understand?" Yeah, how horrible of him, giving them every chance to avoid being sprayed.

People certainly have the right to protest, but they have no right to impede those who are not involved in the protest. You can see them blocking the walkway. There was PLENTY of grass there. Stay on the grass, and don't block the people not involved in the protest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[sjames]

Yes, the police were so hopelessly boxed in by the students they stepped over on the way to pepper spraying them.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[UnknowingFool]

Make up context much. The Alabama protestors did not surround the police. In fact they were marching up the road. And pepper is not dogs.

That was the point. The protestors at UC Davis did not "surround" the police. They were sitting down in a line. There were other students watching and filming but the actual protestors were sitting down. So your point was factually a lie. The other point is that assaulting someone who poses no threat to you seems to be okay with you. Have you ever been pepper sprayed? It's a painful experience.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[Rockoon]

Clearly, you need to look up the definition of the word "surround." There were a LOT more students and officers. Given that the officers do not have wings, and could probably not pole-vault even if they had the poles, surrounding is certainly possible.

Yes, when the police arrived the sitting students surrounded them, by remaining seated.

You apparently dont know what happened there, probably because of the campaign the prevent you from knowing.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[harrkev]

Clearly, you did not see the video.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[TheReaperD]

One of the earliest things we pushed for on international human rights treaties was a ban of collective punishment. Which was exactly the actions that the UC Davis campus police did. One protester got out of line and they used that as an excuse to punish every protester there. Pepper spray is extremely painful and when used in this manner, could be considered as a form of torture, another practice banned by international treaty and most US laws. When the actions of the police came out, the campus head's response was to cover it up and cover her ass to protect her job. It's no surprise that she is under investigation again when she doesn't care about rules or laws, only her own self-interest.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[Archangel Michael]

Being warned about the consequences of continued civil disobedience is a Nazi tactic? If you want to protest, protest, If you want to protest in the face of being maced, and you continue to protest, and get maced, it is not the fault of the "NAZI" brownshirts.

In fact, if I punched one of those poor snowflakes to get them out of my way so I could enter a public building, I am 100% sure they would run crying to those very same "brownshirt nazi's" to have me arrested.

Have sympathy for their cause all you want, but man up and deal with the consequences like an adult.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[harrkev]

Wow. You have insulted me. I did not think of that approach to winning an argument. Clearly, you must be right, with your superior knowledge of swear words. I yield to the superior mind.

In that video that YOU linked, did you notice how they are blocking the path that students are supposed to use to get to class? All they had to do is to move so that they are not blocking the students that have paid their money to addend classes! Do you think that this was impossible for them? Do you believe that students do not have a right to attend their classes?

Right around the 9.57 mark, you can SEE the police apparently surrounded. Students in front of them, behind them, and to the left of the screen. I cannot fully see to the right because the frame is cut off, but that pretty much looks like they are surrounded to me. And, wow, the students behind them look like they are standing!

So, who am I to believe? You, or my own eyes in the video that you linked?

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[whoever57]

Protest all you want, but accept the risks.

Under your interpretation, the first amendment is meaningless. "You can protest, but anything we do to you is your fault" means that there is no right to protest.

Just declaring that the order to disperse is a "legal order" does not automatically make it so, but plenty of police seem to think that it does.

In this case, the protesters were clearly peaceful, were offering no resistance and presented no threat to the police. Other people were not affected by the protesters since they could have easily walked around the protesters.

Furthermore, the officer who used the pepper spray was not authorized to carry and use this weapon. Double standards such as this (no meaningful action for breaking department rules and policies) serves to encourage the use of excessive violence against the public.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[oh_my_080980980]

Seriously, fuck off. Sitting and protesting and someone sprays you. No. So again, fuck off.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[mrbester]

The ones that were sitting down weren't surrounding anybody. In the video you can clearly see the Lt. behind them casually shaking up his can of pepper spray before *walking around them* and spraying it in their faces to wails of "Nooo, Nooo" from onlookers. You see nothing wrong with that? Nothing at all?

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[UnknowingFool]

So, you'd support Anti Abortion protestors blocking access to abortion clinics? You'd protest the police doing anything to stop them? You'd call the police "Brownshirt Nazi's" when they pepper sprayed the abortion protesters?

First, I never said anything of the like that you describe. Way to use a straw-man argument. Second, the students were trespassing IMHO, and I have no problem with them being arrested. The problem I have was with the of pepper spray on people who were not resisting. The police should be held to some sort of standard of training in the methods and the tools they use.

Somehow, I doubt the Occupy people would be consistent.

First of all, I'm not with the Occupy movement. I agree with them on some principles but not on others. You assume so much. Second, have you checked your posts on consistency. Your history is not that great.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[NatasRevol]

Being warned about the consequences of continued civil disobedience is a Nazi tactic

In America, home of the freedom of speech, which has been ruled to include peaceful protest, yes it is.

If you want to protest, protest, If you want to protest in the face of being maced, and you continue to protest, and get maced, it is not the fault of the "NAZI" brownshirts

Uh, yes it is. HENCE THE REASON UC DAVIS TRIED TO HIDE IT.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[UnknowingFool]

Blocking public access is not peaceful nor is it non-aggressive .

Have you read a dictionary recently? Because "peaceful" doesn't mean what you want to re-define it to mean. Second, you apparently didn't watch the video. The protestors were on a sidewalk in a large quad meaning "blocking access" doesn't mean what you imply. That's like you saying I'm "blocking access" in grocery story when I'm waiting in line to pay. People could (and did) go around the protestors.

They may not be violent in action, but their intent is an act of violence. To remove them would threaten safety of everyone involved.

What kind of doublespeak is that? If an action is non-violent, it's non-violent. You seem to re-define "non-violent" == "violent" at your whim. Second, what safety? Again, anyone who wanted to avoid the protestors could walk around them.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[whoever57]

In that video that YOU linked, did you notice how they are blocking the path that students are supposed to use to get to class? All they had to do is to move so that they are not blocking the students that have paid their money to addend classes! Do you think that this was impossible for them?

Or, the people walking to classes could have merely walked around the protesters. Yes, they would have had to walk on the well-maintained and flat area around the path. Such a problem!

Right around the 9.57 mark, you can SEE the police apparently surrounded. Students in front of them, behind them, and to the left of the screen.

It's possible that there were protesters around the police. What's important though is whether the protesters were actually stopping the police from moving away if they wanted to. You will also note that the police were on both sides of the sitting protesters, which suggests very strongly that the protesters were not significantly impeding the movement of the police officers.

Watch the video of the pepper spraying: it's clear from the way the officers were standing that they were relaxed: they did not feel threatened. So, the "but surrounded!" excuse is merely a distraction.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[Weirsbaski]

Around 7:30 you can see the officer telling the protestors individually that if they do not move, they will be sprayed and then saying "Do you understand?" Yeah, how horrible of him, giving them every chance to avoid being sprayed.

By that logic, he could've told them "Run away now or you'll be shot in the head", and after that point he'd have been totally justified to shoot sit-in protesters in the head.

You know, just because an officer warns someone that he's about to do something shitty, doesn't make it ok to do the shitty thing.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[whoever57]

Watch the video of the police telling each protester, individually, that they will be pepper sprayed if they don't move.

Irrelevant, because the police officers must have: 1) justifiable reason to tell them to move and 2) authority to use the pepper spray.

The officers had neither.

The officer was not trained nor authorized to use the pepper spray. What's more, it appears that the spray was not used in accordance with the way it should be used. That the use was not authorized makes it an assault.

If police officers are the sole authority on who can protest, when and where, with the threat of assault if you don't comply, then you live in a police state.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[harrkev]

Irrelevant, because the police officers must have: 1) justifiable reason to tell them to move

Blocking a public walkway so that others cannot use it seems like a justifiable reason to me. How about a student in a wheelchair that needs to get to a class to take a test? I guess they don't count.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[narcc]

THEY chose not to comply, and deserve the consequences

I didn't know the police had been granted authority to convict, decide, and carry out sentences. I guess we can dispense with the courts then.

Re:A world where we will never be forgiven.

[JesseMcDonald]

Blocking a public walkway so that others cannot use it seems like a justifiable reason to me.

The relevant question is whether they were preventing anyone from reaching their destination, not whether they were blocking one particular walkway. From the sound of it, no one was prevented from getting to where they wanted to go. Slightly inconvenienced, perhaps, but other perfectly reasonable routes were available.

If this were a private walkway then they could be charged with trespassing if they refused to leave when asked, but by definition they cannot trespass on a public walkway. They had just as much right to be there as anyone else. Even if they were charged with trespassing, that would not justify the use of force to evict them unless their presence constituted an imminent threat of irreversible harm. The proportional response would be at most the loss of some of their own property, i.e. a fine.

How about a student in a wheelchair that needs to get to a class to take a test? I guess they don't count.

If that case actually came up in real life, and the protesters were blocking the only reasonable route navigable by wheelchair and refused to move aside so the wheelchair could pass through, then you might have a point. Mere hypothetical scenarios, however, count for nothing.

I don't know which is more depressing...

[PvtVoid]

... 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.

Re:Who is "The University?"

[Salgak1]

Actually, the "low-paid security guard" was a Lieutenant in the UC Davis Campus police. Likely earning in the US$60-70K region . . .

You can't erase a news event

[Applehu Akbar]

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.

#1. be excellent to each other

[Thud457]

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.

Your tuition fees at work

[bickerdyke]

Your tuition fees at work. Shouldn't that money be spent on a good education?

Re:In other news, we need "free college"

[drinkypoo]

The fact that a no-name college

It is not a fact that UC Davis is "no-name", neither literally nor figuratively.

felt it had $175K to burn on PR tells you everything you really need to know about college affordability

does it?

there's plenty of fat at the top.

While you are correct, this story tells us nothing about that.

Re:Who is "The University?"

[naughtynaughty]

"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

[Martin S.]

Lt John Pike of UC Davis received $38k in compensation for the trauma he suffered which was 8k more than the protesters he assaulted.

get it right, "TAX" money

[s.petry]

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.

Re:Who is "The University?"

[drinkypoo]

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.

Re:Streisand effect

[Locke2005]

Streisand Effect awards should actually be a thing, just like the Darwin Awards! Who can set up a web site?