UC Davis moves evening classes to remote learning as stabbing investigation continues
The University of California, Davis, campus is transitioning all classes scheduled to end after 6 p.m. to be taught remotely, one of the measures implemented to ensure the safety of staff and students as police continue to look for the assailant in three stabbings that killed two men and seriously wounded a woman in the college town.
UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said the change to online classes will be indefinite as the investigation unfolds into the attacks that occurred not far from the university’s footprint.
The three stabbings over in less than a week have left a well-known community member promoting kindness and a UC Davis student with a promising future death. The third, most recent attack occurred at a homeless encampment late Monday, when the assailant plunged a knife into the side wall of a tent and stabbed the woman inside. She remains in critical but stable condition Tuesday at a hospital.
UC Davis students and employees have expressed genuine fear as the city is gripped by the unusual spate of violence.
“While these incidents have not occurred on our campus, the boundaries between the campus and the city are soft boundaries, and we’re all the same community in the end,” May said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “So what happens in one place, obviously, impacts the other greatly.”
The Associated Students of UC Davis on Tuesday sent a letter to UCD’s Academic Senate calling school officials’ response “alarming” — pointing to a motion tabled by the faculty senate that would have authorized instructors to adopt emergency remote instruction classes across the board.
“We write to you to express our frustrations with the UC Davis Academic Senate Executive Council and their failure to act decisively in response to the recent tragedies in our community,” the Associated Students said in the letter. “As long as the perpetrator of these attacks remains at large, students are unable to safely travel to and from class. Both students and faculty deserve at minimum the option to stay home and attend classes remotely.”
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At the news conference, May said UC Davis administrators worked with the Academic Senate on the decision to switch to remote learning for only classes ending after 6 p.m. He said campus officials would re-evaluate these evening courses.
Pablo Reguerín, UC Davis’ vice chancellor for student affairs, said the campus has intervention teams — which include mental health experts and academic staff and non-academic staff — available for students and campus employees in need. Those services also include one-on-one counseling, and students and faculty have already been making requests for support, he said.
“It’s important to underscore what Chancellor May said regarding the importance of working together as a community for our students and employees,” Reguerín told reporters. “I encourage you to call on our student resources and services to support your well-being during this time.”
UC Davis Police Chief Joe Farrow said his officers were working around the clock to ensure everyone’s safety on campus. They have been joined by officers from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco police departments to conduct increased patrols.
Farrow said the UC police patrols will spill out to areas immediately surrounding the campus, helping Davis Police Department officers boost a law enforcement presence throughout the city, hopefully preventing further violent attacks.
Farrow said UC Davis also has hired Sacramento-based Members in Black Private Security to join patrols on campus. The private security guards, whose regular black uniforms include “MIB” insignia, are routinely hired to provide additional security at athletic events and other large UC Davis events and know the campus well.
“People are generally scared, they’re concerned. They’re trying to understand what is going on in the city of Davis,” Farrow told reporters. “We are trying really, really hard to allow our students to still come onto campus to do what they’re supposed to do and study and do it in a safe way.”
The UC Davis’ force has added personnel and vans to maximize the Safe Ride program’s availability this week for students, faculty and staff on campus and those who need rides to their homes off-campus.
“Those vans are running about 16 hours a day,” Farrow said. “We’re literally taking hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands, of students across this campus every single day.”
The UC Davis police chief the situation is very much real as police continue their manhunt. He encouraged everyone on campus to sign up for the UC Davis Warn Me and Aggie Alert system available online to receive emergency alerts and information from police.
“If you have to walk, especially night, do so in partners,” he said, adding that the buddy study and being aware of surroundings would help “make sure that you’re safe.
“The issues that we’re facing, these are very traumatic, very sad events where we have the loss of life.”
