UC Davis Chancellor: I Can't Quit, the School Needs Me

Despite the fact that students and faculty alike are calling for her resignation, University of California-Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi still says she won’t step down after Friday’s pepper spray incident. "I really feel confident at this point the university needs me," Katehi said today on Good Morning America. "There are so many critical issues to be addressed and we really need to start the healing process and move forward." The campus police chief, who was on the scene during the incident, has been placed on administrative leave; two officers had already been placed on leave.

Katehi appeared to acknowledge that the situation did not appear to be violent when the pepper spray was deployed, but she said the primary concern was making sure “the students are safe. The biggest, most critical issue is the safety of the students who are using the campus, the facilities, who really want to learn in this environment.” A rally against the incident is planned today, the AP reports. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee reports that one of the campus police officers believed to have used the pepper spray is a former US Marine who was awarded in 2007 for protecting other officers at the school’s medical center when a student came at them with scissors. (More Occupy Wall Street stories.)