imminent chapel expansion spells death for three of the campus’s old-growth trees
EDIT: There’s a meeting today in Howard 102 at 5pm for interested parties to hear Carl Vance speak about this topic, followed by a Q&A.
Following the Free Speech forum that took place last Friday (and was pretty cool), I’ve noticed an increase in vocal student support for saving three hella-old Douglas Fir Trees on our campus. Today, I was invited to this Facebook page. From the page:
There are three beautiful, old Douglas firs that have lived near the chapel for years. However, their time is running out. The administration has decided to cut down these old-growth trees to make way for the expansion of the chapel. We are not against the idea of adding a new space for shows and receptions, in fact, we adamantly support the idea of adding new venues to this campus. However, it is unnecessary to cut down these trees to allow space for the expansion- for instance, there is a large patch of grass near the chapel that could be used. The administration has said that they would use the wood from the Douglas firs in the new building and would also plant more trees, but to us, this seems besides the point. It does not make up for the fact that they are cutting down very old trees. The ends don’t necessarily justify the means.
Lewis and Clark prides itself in being an environmentally friendly school- we invested a huge amount of money in the construction of a green building (Howard), conserved water this summer by not watering the grass, one of our most demanded and respected majors is Environmental studies, and we are nationally recognized for our Environmental Law school.
When prospective students go to Lewis and Clark’s website, they will come across the following:
“Lewis & Clark College is located in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.—possibly one of the most environmentally rich corners of the Earth. Without leaving campus, you can explore forested trails for moments of quiet contemplation. The Pacific Northwest abounds in natural wonders, from rugged ocean coastline to high desert and from mountain peaks to Hells Canyon. In the midst of so much beauty so worthy of protection, it’s not surprising that our law school is currently ranked first in the nation in environmental and natural resources law.”
…in the midst of so much beauty so worthy of PROTECTION…
Yet, the administration has decided to cut down three old Douglas fir trees. This is ethically corrosive to the integrity of this institution. This is a call to arms- raise your voice- join us and question the administration. We firmly believe that there must be another option that doesn’t involve the killing of these trees. Help us start the discussion.
Please send an email to the following:
Dean of the College, Julio C. de Paula: casdean@lclark.edu
Associate Dean of the College, Jane Hunter: hunter@lclark.edu
Facilities Manager, Larry Atchison: atchison@lclark.edu
Dean of the Chapel, Mark Duntley: duntley@lclark.edu
Personally, I don’t know enough of the details to have a well-informed opinion on the matter, but I thought I’d pass the info and link along to anyone who might be interested.
[Administrator]
Cary
kennner
dshack
maishaparadox
angelalc
I’m not sure how I feel about this situation. On the one hand, I, like everyone else on the Lewis & Clark campus, love trees. Especially old ones. I am all for standing behind our lovely CO2 consuming, shade providing, branched buddies and will put up arms to protect them from anyone who thinks otherwise.
On the other hand, being someone who has used the chapel on many an occasion, I can totally understand the desire to change it. The building has no lobby, the acoustics are awkward, and the amount classroom space available is next to none. And really, just check out what they’re planning on doing!
https://webdisk.lclark.edu/planning/WebPageDoc/2009_10_02_faculty_presentationChapelAddition.pdf
I am all for saving trees. But if the plans, which were first drawn up over two years ago, are redrafted now to avoid those trees, the renovation is bound to cost more money and take more time to build. Not to mention the fact that the trees used in the renovation will have to come from SOMEWHERE — why not utilize the trees we have here, instead of adding to the carbon footprint and bringing trees in from somewhere else?
In all honestly, I’m torn on the issue. However it is essential for the student body to start looking at both sides of arguments rather than pitting the administration as the bad guy all the time. I vote for constructive and thoughtful discussions, who’s with me?
PS. sorry for the bad link here’s the real one!
http://www.lclark.edu/offices/facilities/campus_planning/projects/
Hear hear! for thoughtful and constructive discussions. Indeed, this renovation and expansion have been on the agenda for many months, and it didn’t mince words regarding the fact that a few of our older firs will be cut down (and supposedly recycled) so the proposed work can happen. When it comes to spending donated money, you bet your sweet bippy the College went about the planning of this project in the most appropriate way possible. That is to say, I ASSUME a qualified firm was hired to do an engineering/architectural study and proposal that best fit the nature of the plan, the funds involved, and the school’s rather public commitment to sustainability. Why not make this assumption, as opposed to one based in the knee jerk Manor House=Illuminati camp? Mayhaps the lawn/boulder space on the south side of the chapel cannot accommodate the addition due to logistics that are beyond those of us whose degrees ate decidedly in the humanities camp? Maybe the location was a part of the donor’s wishes? I don’t know, but after a weekend that seemingly was dominated by the seagull-like actions of a few opinionists, maybe it’d be in the best interest of the community for folks to step back and have one of those thoughtful conversations.
Murray-
My biggest question is why did the administration leave out that they would be cutting down these trees? And, why was it that the Student Senate only found out about this when a student who was not suppose to know in the first place told them? It is indeed unfair to assume that the administration did not take the necessary steps to insure that this process was well thought out- I do not doubt that they spent the time, money and effort to do so. However, I am just confused for the apparent need to keep information from students. A few of the questions that you raised about placement and donor request are exactly the type of questions that I hope to raise during my conversations with the administration. I just think that the students have the right to fully understand what is happening on their campus.
shout out to Otter for making the FB page.
For anyone hangin’ around on the 10th, maybe we can stage a protest or hold a funeral.
I’d normally say that we should welcome the support of all of the student body, but I very much doubt that any involvement Adrian could have in this dialogue would be inflammatory given the way most students and most administration are fed up with his antics. I had a discussion with some friends the other day in which Adrian was unfavorably compared to Sarah Palin, because whatever anyone thinks about either your or her politics it is pretty clear to most people that neither of you go about it in the best way, though this comparison may be slightly unfair to Sarah. I feel that any dialogue we have with the administration is likely to be received in a more positive fashion if Adrian is not involved.
Concerned Student
(posting relatively anonymously for fear of posters with my email address appearing all over campus, I’m sure you understand)
This is a completely unnecessary and irrelevant comment to the discussion at hand. There’s no need to commit personal attacks in this forum.
I agree with Jess here… try to keep the personal attacks to a minimum.
Thank you.
-Cary/Administrator
Carl Vance has reserved JR Howard 102 at 5:00 PM today and will spend about 20 minutes talking about the project and will then will be available to answer questions. Please invite any interested parties that would like to come for this discussion.
Ok, just to insert a few facts into this discussion. The text from the facebook page above reads “The administration has decided to cut down these old-growth trees to make way for the expansion of the chapel.” – this is not entirely true. but I’ll come back to that – first some history. The original plan of the chapel, designed by Paul Thiry (architect of Watzek Library) in 1966, shows the main chapel standing today and the smaller meditation chapel. Construction started on the main chapel in 1967 and the smaller chapel was never built either due to lack of funds or some other reason. Through philanthropic means, the funds for the completion of the original plan of the chapel and smaller meditation chapel were provided recently. So you see, the administration really didn’t have a choice in whether or not to build the smaller chapel or even where to put it. One was defined by donations and the other had been defined buy an architect some 43 years ago.
What’s missing from this overall discussion, is some context and some critical thinking (liberal arts degrees anyone?). One only has to look at the Watzek Library Archives to view pictures of the Frank Manor Estate before the construction of Stewart, Odell, Akin, Pamplin, Watzek, Howard, Copeland, etc. to discover that OMG! this campus used to be covered with Douglas Fir trees! To the extent that most sunny days were not that sunny- it was actually a pretty dark place up here. Now I don’t have anything against students standing up for trees, but please have some sense of context and history. Without tree cutters coming before you, you wouldn’t have that dorm room, or that class room, or that beautiful library you have today.
Additionally, the administration does make some good decisions. I was a student when the glade or grassy knoll was a parking lot. It was the most sought after parking on campus. There were a few trees that had to come down – but at the same time there was a lot of asphalt that was torn up and a whole street (like the existing one from campus safety to Watzek) was taken out and replaced with….oxygen producing plant life.
All of the info cited here was easily found in the archives. I have no doubt that the administration will be planting at least 3 trees to replace the ones being cut down, granted they aren’t old growth, but you’ve gotta start somewhere. Protest and send emails to administrators if you like- by all means, your free to do so.
I for one, am glad to have the beautiful space being added to campus that future students can use to meditate, pray, dance, sing, and express themselves. And I am grateful that this College has benefactors who have the means and vision to provide such a space.