The Planet reports that, shock and surprise, the Wheeler 79 will not be facing criminal charges from the District Attorney. This was more or less inevitable, so the real question is: why did the DA bother in the first place? The University didn't really want him to. It doesn't help him politically. And add to all that the problem of not having any case whatsoever.

But the Planet does reveal that the real action happens this week:

UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said the university will send letters to the students this week notifying them of the charges they will face. She said it will then be up to the students to settle the matter in an informal meeting with staff or go to a hearing.

Is there a clue there? The 'informal meeting' thing is a bit strange; would suspensions or worse really be handled in the staff lounge with Dean Kenney sipping a latte? Unlikely, but it's hard to read that one line.

Calstuff's boss, Instapundit, posted on this. His comparison of

That's not terribly unusual in the aftermath of disturbances where no one is seriously injured, but it's troubling. Would they have done this if the identical behavior had been perpetrated by, say, Klan sympathizers? I doubt it.

Why wouldn't they have dropped charges? The DA didn't have a case.

Not to mention such extenuating circumstances as: it's clearly the University's responsibility, these are mostly tuition paying students, and such. Still, why did Robert Hernandez get such an easy pass? Evidence seems strong that he bit a cop, which merits a bit more than most of a grand in fines in my world.

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