On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of students protested and made their way past University Police in the Student Activities Center to show their disapproval for a proposed hotel to be constructed at the main entrance of Stony Brook University.
The marchers were part of the Stony Brook Conservation Collective, a coalition of members from several other clubs on campus. The group of about 30 held signs made of cut up cardboard, recycled posters, and even cut up cereal boxes with paper towel rolls.
With the help of a megaphone, slogans such as “We pay the fees! Don’t cut our trees!” and “It’s bullshit! Get off it! Your hotel is for profit!” caught the attention of passersby on the academic mall.
Nearby, Nazma Niles collected signatures for a petition to be presented to President Stanley.
“We’re asking them to reconsider their location for building the Hilton hotel if to build it at all,” said Niles. “Just today, over 100 people have signed.”
Not everyone was impressed. Three women walking out of the Administration building joked that the students “don’t realize their signs are made out of trees.”
Campus police were on hand for the rally as well, and kept a close eye on participants. At first, only one officer trailed the rally, but by the time the march moved back towards the SAC, six members of campus police and security watched from a distance.
All six officers had their hands full at the SAC, where protestors learned that President Stanley was attending a Veteran’s Day event in the auditorium. The marchers attempted to enter the SAC, but were stopped by Campus Police.
For several minutes, the confrontation went back and forth, with students claiming that they had the right to enter the building as long as they weren’t disruptive and police insisting that the very presence of the protestors would disrupt ongoing activities.
Rally organizers came equipped with a copy of the university’s official policy on entering buildings though, and organizer Andrew Greco ended the argument by walking in holding his sign anyway. Most of the group followed.
For several minutes they occupied a part of the steps in the main lobby. The protesters were satisfied standing there until the Veteran’s Day event ended, when they tried to relocate to the front of the auditorium to catch the attention of President Stanley.
He was long gone, though. After the event, he was escorted out of the building through another hallway, and steered clear of the main lobby where the protestors were assembled.
Rally leaders, not satisfied that they had gotten Stanley’s attention, decided to march silently past his office in the administration building. Campus police guarded the closed door while protestors walked in a single file line past it. When they had left, the officer guarding the door opened it and assured everyone inside that it was safe.
After the event, we spoke to Greco about the goal for the rally.
“We are trying to press administrators to promise they wont level that forest,” he said. “We’re asking Stony Brook to change the location now.”
An ongoing lawsuit has put plans for the hotel, reported first in Think Magazine, on hold. But an injunction against the university from developing the plot of land in question was recently lifted, removing any legal barriers stopping the university from demolishing trees.
The lawsuit, however, has not been resolved. Marchers are demanding that the university commit to leaving the land intact until the suit is resolved in the courts.
“I don’t see how they could win because the land lease has expired,” said Greco. The lease, granted by New York State decades ago, outlines the area directly across Circle Road from the administration parking garage.
Wednesday’s march came after previous, more diplomatic attempts to air their grievances over the hotel with university officials
The Environmental Club attempted to get answers from the University Senate, but they were turned away from a November 2 meeting. That, says Greco, is why they had this rally.
“We’ve tried the legitimate way, we’ve tried the legitimate routes. We made an appeal in front of the University Senate and it was dismissed.”
Stony Brook University spokeswoman Lauren Sheprow issued a brief statement on the hotel, and the ongoing litigation.
“The University and the developer are interested in proceeding with the hotel project, but as yet have not discussed the court’s most recent decision,” she said via email Wednesday evening.
Reporting was contributed by Adam Peck; Photography by Klara Huszar for Think Magazine.
Trevor Christian
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Trying to get a new ground lease from the NY state legislature would be like squeezing water from stone. In an ideal world, the hotel should be moved elsewhere. But guess what, we’re far from living in an ideal world thanks to NY’s dysfunctional state government.
I’d spare a few trees to finally get this project going. Of the 11 acres, 3.6 will be developed. Come on, it took 20+ years to find this developer. In a way, these trees have already been condemned in 1987. They’ve just been given a stay of execution.
The issue is that the ground lease has expired. Period. Therefore relocating should not be as difficult as it seems, it is just easier to choose the 12 acres.
Just want to make a correction: those photos weren’t taken by me! I think those are either Adam’s or Doug’s pictures.
ironically, these are the same students that will be protesting rising tuition costs. Trees are great and all, but they don’t pay tuition.
@Zordon: neither do Hotels…
Its great that you offer to save a few more trees, but I have to wonder if the 3.6 acres you describe also include the clearing for the road, lighting fixtures, and utiilities. The value of trees needs to be revealed, because trees are very beneficial to our health, locally and globally.
“”The very air we breathe is improved by the presence of trees.”
A book by Dr. Seuss illustrates the impact trees have on our environment. In his tale The Lorax, The disappearance of trees bears dire environmental consequences. At the onset of the story the landscape is beautiful and lush with shady groves, clean water, and ample home for wildlife. As the tale progresses and trees are cut down, the environment starts to sour. Animals flee for lack of food and shelter, the air becomes dark and dirty, and the water supply grows stale.
So too, would our environment suffer if we uprooted our own trees….
The very air we breathe is improved by the presence of trees. In order to feed themselves, trees absorb harmful chemicals such as carbon monoxide and in turn give off oxygen. As well, they filter and trap pollutants such as smoke, dust, and ash making our air cleaner.”
http://www.treehelp.com/features/features-benefits.asp
Have you ever noticed how much better the air feels to breath when you are in a neighborhood filled with mature trees? I have. Its just fabulous. Why can’t the hotel and conference center be located closer to the Stony Brook train station, where there are fewer trees to destroy?
Saying “relocating should not be as difficult as it seems” shows your naïveté about our dysfunctional state government.
If the ground lease by the State of New York is indeed expired, then the naturally the State government, being the lessor, should stop this hotel development. But in this case, the State, represented by the office of the attorney-general is working to defeat this lawsuit. So the lessor itself deems the lease valid. But the treehuggers think they know better than the lessor. Whether the ground lease is expired or not will be up to the judge to finally decide.
Protesters can’t even get their message straight when they say they just want to “change the location now” and at the same time have slogans like
“It’s bullshit! Get off it! Your hotel is for profit!”
Plants “eat” and “breathe” through their stomata — tiny pores that pattern their leaves. When the sun is out, these small holes pull in carbon dioxide for energy generation through photosynthesis, and expel oxygen and water vapor. At night, to conserve moisture, the stomata are closed by a pair of kidney-shaped guard cells — the closest structure a plant has to muscle.
But darkness isn’t the only signal that calls for guard cells to take action. Stomata also will seal up in response to high carbon dioxide levels, ozone, low humidity, and drought. In this study, researchers searched for details about the protein that starts the molecular chain reaction leading to stomata closure.
http://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/news/news.asp?a=1191&t=pr