OAKLAND, Calif. – University of California administrators should take more responsibility for controlling their police and officers should be better trained to keep protests peaceful, says a report the university system released Friday.

The report was prepared in the aftermath of protests in November at UC-Berkeley and UC-Davis. Both protests drew criticism of police actions: jabbing protesters with batons at Berkeley and using pepper spray on passive protesters at Davis.

UC President Mark Yudof in November said he was “appalled” at those actions and vowed to protect the rights of student and staff.

Among the recommendations emphasized in the report by authors UC-Berkeley Law Dean Christopher Edley and UC General Counsel Charles Robinson during a news conference were:

• Chancellors should be directly involved with police during demonstrations.

• Campus police should rely on officers from other campuses instead of calling in support from outside law enforcement agencies.

Using pepper spray on protesters at campuses is still up for debate. But the report says it is not clear if pepper spray is more harmful than batons and Tasers and offers no recommendation on its use.

One earlier report criticized the use of pepper spray at Davis, but another suggested it would have been useful at the Berkeley protest.

Free speech should be the primary focus of police and administrators at places like Berkeley and Davis, the lawyers reported. The mind-set “that has been focused primarily on the maintenance of order and adherence to rules and regulations” must change, Edley said.

“I have had conversations with my students who were struck by batons and stopped by police and pressed to produce ID and explain themselves, and it makes them feel shaky and uncomfortable,” Edley said. “Those kinds of occurrences have to be minimized.”