BERKELEY, Calif. — University of California officials have won the legal right to oust a band of tree-sitters who’ve taken up residence in an oak grove standing in the way of a planned sports center.
But how do you uproot a tree-sitter in Berkeley, one of America’s most politically correct cities?
“Extremely difficult,” acknowledges campus spokesman Dan Mogulof.
As the protest nears its one-year anniversary, plenty of people have suggestions: Fire hoses, skunk spray and tranquilizer darts are among the thorny ideas Internet posters have planted.
So far, the university has moved cautiously.
The university wants to remove dozens of the picturesque trees, called evergreen coast live oaks, to build a $125 million training facility for its Golden Bears athletic teams.
There have been scuffles between police and tree-sitters, and campus officials have put up chain-link fences around the grove. University lawyers have told a judge they are considering pruning lower branches to make it harder to ferry supplies up to the protesters.
Both sides say they don’t want a treetop confrontation.
“It’s not an easy thing to do, to climb up into a tree, first of all,” said Doug Buckwald, member of a group that supports tree-sitters but doesn’t join them. “If you’re climbing up into a tree to try to wrestle with somebody and drag them down, you are taking on a high level of risk.”
A judge ruled last month that school officials would be within their rights to oust the protesters. Mogulof declined to comment on what tactics campus police might use but said they are “not currently contemplating a forcible removal.”
“Any decisions we make are going to be guided by an overriding desire to minimize the chance of harm coming to our officers or the people in the trees,” Mogulof said.
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