Redbud Protesters Act Again (Cornell)

[struggle4progress]

Activists plant garden in parking lot of Day Hall
May 05, 2005
by Julie Geng
Sun Senior Writer

After they coordinated a sit-in at the President's office last week, the Redbud Woods Working Group orchestrated yet another demonstration starting at 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon. To best display their demands to the administration, the protesters dumped several dozen pounds of soil and plants at the entrance to the Day Hall parking lot, in addition to parking three cars on the sidewalk in front of the building.

The roof and trunk door of one of the cars were torn off to make room for the garden they had planted in the back seat and trunk, and was named "The Jeffrey S. Lehman Urban Garden." This particular car was parked directly in front of the parking lot, while containing a wooden coffin with a tree branch from the Redbud Woods. The protesters had removed the wheels from the car and placed them on the driveway as barriers. <snip>

At about 1:45 p.m., a banner was unfurled from the top of the Statler Hotel building, declaring "Save Redbud Woods; Democracy; Sustainability; Community". Half an hour after the banner was put up, the police demanded that the two protesters on the roof of the Statler Hotel remove the banner. The banner was eventually confiscated, but the protesters were not arrested. One protester described that the police had said after bringing the protesters off the roof: "The banner was on Cornell property and therefore it will be incinerated."

Immediately prior to the banner's confiscation, the protesters found out that President Jeffrey S. Lehman '77 was at the time exiting a meeting at the Statler Hotel. Upon receiving this news, a dozen protesters rushed into the Statler Hotel lobby in search of Lehman to demand a meeting to negotiate. <snip>

http://www.cornellsun.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/05/05/4279c097d395c