April 9, 2014
TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Dear Colleagues:
The unfortunate events of this past weekend in Isla Vista were extremely disturbing for our campus community. I wrote a message to our students yesterday, and I wanted to share that letter with you, below.
I felt that it was very important to have data from the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office to share with you, and I now have that information. There were a total of 159 arrests and 253 citations over the weekend. Out of that total of 412 arrests and citations, 376, or 91.3 percent, were not affiliated with UC Santa Barbara.
As Dilling and I walked on Del Playa on Saturday night, before and after midnight, I attempted to converse with the people there, in the presence of tear gas. My conversations and observations also indicated a large presence of people from out of town, making us feel like we were walking in an unfamiliar place.
However, as I wrote to our students, we cannot direct all of the responsibility for what happened to outsiders. We must come together as a community to address these challenges, and to identify ways to prevent such incidents in the future. Our foremost concern is for the safety and well-being of our students and community.
As with our students, I invite you to email me your thoughts and ideas at IV-feedback@chancellor.ucsb.edu. I appreciate the concerns and suggestions that many of you have shared with me already, and I welcome your ongoing participation in the coming days and weeks as we all work together to find short-term solutions to prevent this from happening again, and long-term solutions to improve the environment and change the culture of Isla Vista.
Sincerely,
Henry Yang