The #SaveTheTree sit-in is happening in the Sunken Gardens right now
‘We surround it and support it and want it to stay, and then in the night the administration takes it away’
Overnight, the flyers sprouted out of nowhere – growing on trees, lamp posts, and the fence by the Crim Dell. All of them read the same thing: sit-in at noon on the Sunken Gardens. The cause?
Save the tree.
The mysterious flyers
Because along with those flyers, a tree appeared, freshly planted, right in the middle of the Sunken Gardens.
For the last two or three years, it’s been anonymously planted, and each year more students heed the flyer’s call. This time, a small group gathered around the tree, and even did an impromptu reading of “The Giving Tree”, passing a cracked phone around, reading two sentences at a time.
And with each new person that joined, the question was asked:
What does the tree mean to you?
Here are a couple of those answers, and moments of the sit-in.
You are not alone.
Reading “The Giving Tree”
“It means making a fool out of yourself. Saving the world. One tree at a time.”
“It’s like a college temper tantrum.”
“It represents defiance. It means that we can fight our fight, no matter how preordained it may be.”
“Sometimes it’s good to just protest something stupid.”
“We need to nurture something during the death time of exams.”
“This is a small tree. It’s been bigger.”
“We surround the tree and support it and want it to stay. And then in the night the administration takes it away.”
“It means the year is almost over, and it means lighthearted silliness that doesn’t hurt anything. And every year it brings more people together.”
Fight the good fight, little tree. Enjoy your day on campus.
Fight the fight.