The number of trees gone, of land and humanities programs lost, doesn’t stop there. The new Engineering buildings used to be forest, not to mention College 9 and 10, the Elvin woods. Journalism used to be a minor, and the Cowell hillside used to be covered in trees. When a student in the 70’s committed suicide, his family planted a sapling in his honor. Last year, the tree was cut down and the plaque was removed. The largest campus protest of the 1990’s happened at the planned site of College 9 and 10, yet the project continued and now dorm beds throughout campus are not filled. Currently at College 9 and 10, there are benches made from the bodies of the downed Redwoods.

The new Long Range Development Plan is now targeting the Cowell meadow, the Trailer Park, the Porter Meadow, and Upper campus for destruction. The UC system has made it very clear in the last few years that the only thing they are concerned with is generating more money. Money for whom, however, is hard to tell, because the Humanities program continues to falter, over half of the educators are lecturers, and staff members have still not received their promised raise.

There is now, however, a possibility for compromise. As UCSC has led the movement for progressive campuses in the past, we now have the opportunity to lead our school into the future. Sustainable architecture is becoming less expensive to construct and more environmentally friendly. This would include, but would not be limited to: a one for one tree replacing program, solar energy, grey water systems where water is reused throughout the building, and the usage of sustainable building materials.

The students must raise their voices now if they want anything to change. Regardless of the reasons, the truth remains the same: our tuition is paying for the destruction of the campus and not to sustain our educational programs. Without our input the money will be spent on projects that hurt our communities and the land we live upon.

Letters to the Chancellor, the Board of Regents, the LRDP committee (lrdp-admin (at) ucsc.edu), and City Council Members telling them that we do not agree with the indiscriminant destruction of this land and our educational programs will be another step. Protests, teach-ins, and community actions are next. Yet the question must be raised: will the people pushing the LRDP into life, and cutting the Humanities programs to death, listen to anything short of the loss of large amounts of tuition money?

It is imperative that students immediately begin to stand up for their campus, take notice of the places their money goes, and fight for the protection of our land and communities, as did the generations of students that came before us.

For more information see:
planning.ucsc.edu/lrdp/feedback.htm