uc davis FINAL

On Sept. 17, the ongoing Occupy protests that began in New York City spread to the quiet California city of Davis. Over the next two months, the protest fused with the University of California (UC) Davis campus. Then, on Nov. 18, Occupy Davis finally garnered national attention when the UC Davis police pepper-sprayed a row of nonviolent students.

But the most haunting of images in the ensuing media firestorm was not that of the seated students bowing their heads. It was not the policeman in full riot gear holding the pepper spray can in a seemingly nonchalant manner.

It was the reaction video, the one filmed on the night of Nov. 19 as the UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi walked out of a meeting on the issue. Hundreds of student protesters were gathered outside her office. But what was extraordinary was that they didn’t riot, didn’t block her path. They didn’t shout, didn’t wave signs, didn’t even speak or move. They simply stood together and watched Chancellor Katehi walk to her car.

The result is chilling. Watch the video and you’ll sense the palpable uncomfortableness in the air, the feeling that Katehi is accountable for the hundreds of pairs of eyes fixated on her. That’s the power of silence in a world overrun with noise.

We always hear stories of violent protests and victims screaming to demand justice. But how many riots truly get their messages across? Students demanding more opportunities and relief from crushing loans are drowning out their voices in pithy rhetoric and furious chants. Protests in Oakland were completely overshadowed by the violent clashes with police. Occupy encampments in New York and Los Angeles were so crowded with anger and sign-waving and fist-shaking that people are still confused about what the occupiers want.

But UC Davis proves that no one needs to raise a voice just to make an impact. That eerie vigil the students held? That is showing solidarity—not gathering to share anger or shout together, but uniting for a cause, and doing it in a way that makes people pay attention. Before the pepper-spraying incident, as students protested the “traditional” way, Katehi simply ordered the university police to remove them. But in those silent stares Katehi was forced to acknowledge the students, acknowledge her responsibility. With all the rage and screaming, people naturally tune out. To stand still and forgo all action, to surprise naysayers who are resignedly convinced of another clash, to do nothing but simply force someone to accept their presence is what “occupy” truly means. That is how to send a message.

Silent protest—perhaps it’s an odd phrase to hear in the midst of all the occupying and chanting and arresting that’s been spreading like wildfire across the globe. But I commend the students of UC Davis, because of all the Occupy protests, the most unheard gathering was the one that speaks out the most.