University of California–Davis, officials agreed to pay a $1 million settlement to 21 current and former students after they were sprayed in the face and eyes by a police officer during a protest last year.
Video footage of the incident, which took place during an Occupy-style protest last November, spread throughout the Internet and sparked widespread outrage.
The settlement awards each student in the lawsuit $30,000 as well as a handwritten letter of apology from university Chancellor Linda Katehi.
The university will also give assistance and counseling for “academic performance issues that allegedly arose from the incident,” according to the Sacramento Bee.
“The reason we were protesting was that the university has proposed unfair and unreasonable tuition hikes,” student Ian Lee, who was pepper sprayed, told ABC News.
Lee said he would use the money to pay for his tuition fees.
“I know that’s what a lot of my friends are doing. Some others are donating it, and some others are using the money to get a good start post-college in this difficult economic time,” he added.
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