From the Stanford Daily:

Erin Lashnits, a coterminal student in biological sciences, has been suspended for the remainder of her tenure as the Stanford Tree.

Band Manager Mike Priest and Assistant Manager Adam Cohen announced their decision to Lashnits on Thursday night, just hours after UC-Berkeley Athletic Department officials Breathalyzed her at a .157 blood-alcohol content at halftime of the men’s basketball team’s 65-62 loss at Berkeley, according to sources, including several in the band.

But a school mascot never lets things get her down. Lashnits stays positive and demonstrates her school spirit and winning attitude:

“The Tree’s going to be just as awesome as it ever was,” Lashnits said. “Nothing fundamental’s going to change. The Tree will be the Tree forever and ever.”

And though Lashnits said she’ll miss what she called “the closest she’ll ever become to being a rockstar,” she added that her time had come.

“I’m so fucking burnt out,” Lashnits said. “I have shin splints that are killing me and my costume got torn up and destroyed against Washington when Sixth Man stormed the court. The only things I’m missing are two home basketball games which really aren’t that big of a deal to me. I’m not that big of a sports fan.”

Anyway, what I really want to see is an Oski vs. Tree brawl. How awesome would that be?

Update: According to this Playboy interview with the Tree (not necessarily Ms. Lashnits), there was indeed an incident between the rival mascots in the past:

PB: Who’s your biggest rival? You have a bad history with Cal’s mascot, Oski, and in 1998 you got in such a nasty brawl that it was covered on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

ST: Well, he’s a tool, first of all. And just for the record, Oski attacked me. But most of the time I’m not even going to waste my time interacting with another mascot, although I may say a few coarse words here and there.