University of California Santa Cruz professor Angela Davis called “outrageous” claims made by UC regent and California businessman Ward Connerly. In a letter mailed to Davis and faxed to reporters, Connerly, also chair of the self-titled “California Civil Rights Initiative” to ban affirmative action in the state, accused Davis of using her position at the university to defeat the CCRI. Connerly insinuated that Davis had encouraged students to harass Connerly at a recent Board of Regents meeting.
Davis, who was told of the letter before receiving it, said that Connerly’s claims did not merit response and that she was “shocked he would release a letter of this sort that has so much misinformation.” Commenting on Connerly’s implication that Davis used “her perch as a member of the women of color research cluster,” to organize students to defeat Connerly’s bill, Davis said, “I have never in my entire career attempted to incite any student to violence, but I have encouraged students and workers to organize, which I think is a democratic right. It’s quite obvious that (Connerly) is using his position as a member of the board of regents to promote this very dangerous and conservative assault on the rights of the people of this state.”
