It cost UC Davis over $100,000 for security and thousands of hours of staff time recently to get ready for an expected visit of 300 international agricultural officials and up to 1,000 demonstrators.
When the day finally arrived, only about 70 officials and their assistants came for the tours. About 60 people demonstrated, with three being arrested after they attached themselves to a sculpture and stairwell in the Life Sciences Addition. About 20 journalists did news stories.
Afterward, campus officials said that while the price was high, the event was a success. The visitors took away information that could help their developing nations. Campus programs were showcased to the public. Activists got the chance to be heard. No one was injured and no property was damaged. And the extraordinary planning led to improved relationships with regional emergency agencies and provided campus officials with lessons that will be helpful in the future.
The occasion was the USDA-sponsored Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology, held June 23-24 at the Sacramento Convention Center. Police were prepared for 10,000 activists to gather in Sacramento and for an unknown number to follow the ministers when they came to tour campus programs on June 25.
Some observers think that the large numbers of police assembled in Sacramento and Davis discouraged activists from becoming violent -- or even from coming at all. On campus, security included approximately 100 officers from Davis, other UC campuses and West Sacramento; 100 California Highway Patrol officers; and the regional bomb squad unit, consisting of police from Dixon, Sacramento, Reno and Oakland. Also, a small number private security guards were hired to guard likely targets for vandalism, such as experimental crops, and prominent structures where activists might try to hang banners, such as the water towers and Mondavi Center.
"We saw this as a potential threat to our people and facilities," said Stan Nosek, vice chancellor for administration. "There was a top-notch level of professionalism that came through from everyone involved."
In the months before the conference, government law-enforcement officials warned that Sacramento could see a repeat of the 1999 "Battle in Seattle," where rowdy activists disrupted a World Trade Organization meeting.
In fall 2002, the USDA asked the UC Agricultural Issues Center, based at UC Davis, to organize site visits for the ministers. Staff and faculty began planning tours at the Department of Food Science & Technology and Foundation Plant Services and at the Maddy and Thurman labs of the California Animal Health and Safety Laboratory. For months the tours were kept secret by order of the USDA, which told the center that confidentiality was necessary to keep the foreign ministers safe. In late May campus police, fire and communications officials learned about the plans. Staffs quickly started preparing contingency plans.
In the end, activist numbers in Sacramento were far lower than expected. Sunday to Tues-day, June 22-24, only a few demonstrators were arrested; there was no vandalism or violence.
Inside the expo, staff from CA&ES were working. "Our booth attracted individuals from all over the world who were very interested in learning more about our programs in integrated pest management, precision agriculture, foods for health, and, yes, biotechnology," said DeeDee Kitterman, the college's executive director of research and outreach.
On campus, about 20 activists protesting the genetic engineering of trees entered the Life Sciences Addition lobby about 3 p.m. June 24. Three of the protestors attached themselves with locks and ropes to the spiral DNA sculpture and to a stair railing. Firefighters disengaged the activists, and police arrested the three on charges of failing to disperse, failing to obey officers' instructions and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The only other noteworthy protest occurred at lunchtime June 25, when about 40 people marched and chanted outside Cruess Hall, calling for an end to the genetic modification of foods and corporate influence on agricultural technology. Police stood by until the group peacefully dispersed.