What about the UCLA taser incident? Morgan wonders why we didn’t hear more about it on the blogosphere. I know that I was waiting for not just the inevitable ass-covering by the University Police, but also some sort of response from someone within the UCLA library system. I figured it would be decent to give them a chance to say something — perhaps along the lines of the Salon article that Morgan links to “I don’t like to see patrons tazed but in this case I think the campus police handled this correctly.” or perhaps something more sympathetic to the man who was tasered by campus police. But they said nothing, nothing that I could find. I was still waiting by the time I read Leslie’s letter, and Morgan’s post.
I was proud of Leslie Burger’s open letter to the UCLA Chancellor. In general I have been happy with some of the gutsy letters she’s written on behalf of libraries. There is a certain disconnect that happens when libraries have an opportunity to go on record about something that includes the larger institution that they are a part of. UCLA decides that the case is closed. What is the library’s role, or the role of library staffers, to comment on the events that occurred, events that were by all accounts the results of non-compliance with a library policy?
I think the most surprising library post I’ve read about the incident is this one:
http://www.shush.ws/wordpress/?p=128
…wow — apparently the student was a Muslim extremist who was too afraid to blow himself up.
Presumably the next logical step would be to taser anyone who’s not white as they enter the library… y’know, better to be safe than sorry!
I have to wonder is UCLA perhaps issues a “no-comment” edict over library employees until the case was “closed.” That’s not uncommon.
I would not want to go the this college. It seems they have to rule by fear to keep control. If this place is that out of control then what is next but another mass killing but this time by the cops. The cops do not seem to care about any persons at the school. Even when they saw the guy refuse to walk he was already handcuffed so it was not like he was goign to get away. They let their emotions run them and in fear blasted him to get him to walk. The only thing here about the taser is it makes a person piss themselve and go spastic and then thy really can walk. That just keeps making it worse. They would have been able to each grab a limb and run him out of the place and toss him in the car. It seems at this school you better be white and clean cut to get passed up for a taser if you are lucky. Even then it seems these cops are bored and have a need to test the tasers out on the least person that goes off at them. Parents should get tasers. This device would ensure your kid would never act up or just die. Who would have thought being in a library would be the place to be tasered. Most times people can’t be persuaded to even step in the place to check out a book. I would say switch to having the ID’s be around the kneck of the students and if not then you get arrested since it is a communist school.