Giving them the finger

Last night, 110 students signed their names in paint to try to save the Wooded Hillock behind the Comcast Center.

In an attempt to publicize how the planned East Campus development would destroy the area known as the Wooded Hillock, the Student Sustainability Council — a department of the Student Government Association that promotes environmental awareness and sustainability on the campus — created an artistic petition to educate and gain support from students

"We're trying to rally public support through the student body because there's a lot of people who don't know what's going on," said Laura Calabrese, a senior sociology major on the committee. "We're showing the administration that people found out what's going on and they're not happy."

In university President Dan Mote's State of the Campus address that he issued last week, he lauded the university's recent designation as a "Tree Campus USA" by the Arbor Day Foundation, recognizing our "dedication to environmental stewardship."

He joked this may give the pro-hillock students ammunition.

Though making no reference to the Tree Campus award, as part of the first day of "Radical Rush Week," students signed a petition against the East Campus development by placing a thumbprint in green paint on a canvas painting of a tree. The thumbprint was meant to look like a leaf and symbolize the growing coalition of students dedicated to the preservation of the hillock, which is used by professors and their classes, as well as some students, who enjoy spending time in the wooded area.

"We've found in the past, people don't like signing a petition," Calabrese said. "If you're outside Stamp with a clipboard, people tend to run away. With art, people are intrigued."

Marni Sperling, a freshman letters and sciences major, seemed to agree.

"I thought it was a cute idea," Sperling said.

Freshman biology major Delphia Varadarajan said she would have signed the petition with her thumb or with a pen.

"I don't agree with cutting down a lot of trees and forest for commercial reasons, especially when it's used for educational purposes," Varadarajan said.

Jeff Pawlak, a freshman government and politics major who also made his mark, said he did not want the administration destroying the existing environment.

The Council plans to take the artwork to more Radical Rush week events to gain support from other student groups and get more "leaf" signatures.

The group's director, senior environmental science and policy Joanna Calabrese, said she was not sure when they would be presenting the painting, but that they wanted to keep the momentum going on educating students about planned development of what is now the hillock.

"We're trying to be strategic about when we're going to talk to the administration," Calabrese said. "We're not using it yet, and we don't necessarily know when, we just know we need to educate people by having this; the main objective is to explain."

Officials announced in 2007 that the wooded hillock area would be developed and used as part of the East Campus development plan, which would include bulldozing the area to make room for university facilities.

cetrone@umdbk.com