In the end, the calendar did what the UC Davis police force could not.
With nary a police officer or campus administrator in sight, University of California, Davis, students and supporters quietly went about dismantling their tent occupation in the campus quad Friday afternoon.
The moved, prompted by the campus's winter break, comes three weeks after campus police used pepper spray on nonviolent students, earning the campus national media scorn and emboldening the movement.
"Our work isn't done," said sophomore Deanna Johnson, one of the students hit with pepper spray.
She and others said the rallies, sit-ins and occupation have brought student activists together and focused attention on other issues, including rising tuition.
But nobody seemed to know whether tents will go back up when classes resume Jan. 9.
The whirlwind of events, punctuated by the Nov. 18 pepper-spraying incident, catapulted the campus into the national spotlight as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The incident occurred as campus police sought to clear a modest tent encampment from the quad.
Since then, campus officials have taken a hands-off approach, saying in a statement Friday that they wanted to "respect the rights of students to protest" while monitoring campus safety.
At its peak, the camp had 70 tents. By Friday evening the number was down to 20.
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