Some Sarah Lawrence College students are furious that a beloved cherry tree on campus is slated to be razed to make way for construction of the Barbara Walters Campus Center.
The famed journalist is an alumnus of the private and posh New York liberal arts college.
A petition was launched that declares the cherry tree a historic treasure.
Signatures posted on the petition page ranged from the eulogistic:
This tree is the reason I am married. It is the reason I am close to some of my greatest friends, and the reason we started a performance group called Tree Project. It is part of the heart and soul of Sarah Lawrence, and it should by no means be cut down.
To the strange:
This tree is a campus/student center in itself. <3
To the condemnatory:
This is absolutely outrageous and these trees MUST be protected. Fuck the admin.
But most notably, campus activists appear upset at the potential end of an annual tradition during the last week of school during which departing seniors arrange the tree’s petals in a circle. The following was posted on the petition page by its creator, student Arianna Cooper:
The cherry tree, in particular, has a strong attachment and tradition with the college. Throughout my the time at this college the seniors during senior week would gather the fallen petals and arrange them in a circle on Andrews Lawn. This is a Sarah Lawrence College Senior Tradition. The construction of this center could eliminate this tradition forever…
This sequence of events was initiated in 2015 after Barbara Walters and her charitable foundation donated $15 million to Sarah Lawrence College — her alma mater — to help pay for the construction of a campus center.
On April 24 of this year, an email sent to students notified them that the Kwanzan cherry tree, which sits just to the side of the path up to Andrews Court, would be removed to make way for construction of the new center, as well as some other trees.
The petition was launched shortly after that announcement — and despite the fact that administrators explained in an email to students why saving the cherry tree is not plausible.
The email noted a few younger trees can be spared, but “we have been advised the largest of the trees, the Kwanzan cherry tree, is too established to relocate (it is already past its life expectancy of 15-25 years) and would not survive a transplant. Thus, as the construction of the Barbara Walters Campus Center proceeds, the removal of this mature cherry tree is unavoidable when the construction begins later in the calendar year.”
Reached by phone last week, a spokeswoman for the school said the cherry tree still stands and construction on the center has yet to begin, but declined to comment further.
The email to students notes the campus worked to give the cherry tree “both a legacy and an afterlife.” It hosted a “Dance All Night Celebration” by the tree, and a visual arts student “will create a digital representation of the tree that can be projected onto a wall or other surface.”
Moreover, officials pledged in the email to “take cuttings to root new trees to be incorporated into the campus landscape once they mature” and the trunk “will be evaluated for best use of the wood to create artistic or functional items that might enhance the College environment.”
The Phoenix student newspaper reported that construction on the center is expected to begin this fall.
MORE: Public University Hikes Tuition, Meanwhile Spending $400,000 To Relocate One Tree
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