Editor’s Note: At the opening of Thursday’s UC Board of Regents meeting, UC President Janet Napolitano addressed her comments from the previous day. Click here for the full article on her apology and Thursday’s meeting.
UC President Janet Napolitano was recorded Wednesday saying that she did not “have to listen to this crap” in response to demonstrators at the UC Board of Regents meeting.
“Let’s go. We don’t have to listen to this crap,” she said to Regent Bruce Varner, chair of the board, before exiting the meeting with the other regents. The remark was recorded on a live stream of the meeting.
Napolitano’s comment followed protests that began toward the end of public comment, in which students stripped down to their undergarments and threw fake money at the regents in protest of planned tuition hikes.
UC Student Association board chair Kevin Sabo expressed frustration with Napolitano’s comment, saying that the “disheartening” statement validates the suspicion that the regents are not always attentive to students’ concerns during public comment.
According to the LA Times, UC spokesperson Steve Montiel did not want to comment on Napolitano’s remarks but said the protest delayed discussion of important issues.
Police issued a dispersal order to the protesters shortly after the demonstration began.
The board will meet Thursday for the final day of a three-day meeting.