#UCDavis quad – a place for gatherings for a long time

I went by the UC Davis Quad (the scene of the pepper spray incident Friday) today after class and took a look at the growing camp.  I thought I would take some pics that I think symbolize the Quad in part to me.  The Quad is a place for relaxation much of the time.  And it is also a place for gatherings.  The fact that the current gathering has tents is perhaps unusual.  But the fact that students are gathering at the Quad to express themselves is not.  I hope people do not come away from the pepper spray story with a view that the Quad is somehow being taken over for “expression.”  Whether you support the growing camp or not, the Quad is historically a place where expression comes in many forms.  Today, what stood out to me, were all the signs sitting there for student groups that are used for recruitment at various times.  Below is a slideshow of these signs:

And for those without flash I am inserting all the pics below …

Author: Jonathan Eisen

I am an evolutionary biologist and a Professor at U. C. Davis. (see my lab site here). My research focuses on the origin of novelty (how new processes and functions originate). To study this I focus on sequencing and analyzing genomes of organisms, especially microbes and using phylogenomic analysis View all posts by Jonathan Eisen