Joyous news on the latest tree sitter. After a rally and dialogue today “Fresh,” the tree name of the person staying in the tree by Wheeler Hall, finally came down. He cited the successful dialogue among students that occurred on Friday as a reason for him to end the tree sit. The Daily Cal has an article with more details.

I was not around when “Fresh” finally came down, but I was around for the rally and commotion by the tree around noon. A group organized through Facebook, “Students against Hippies in Trees,” circulated papers and online messages encouraging students to show up on Friday and yell their feelings of disgust and disagreement at tree sitter “Fresh.”

When I walked toward the tree around noon, there was a large crowd gathered. One of the supporters of the tree sitter, who I have seen at the trees by the stadium and even at campus events, was selling stones to stone people.

A Conservation with Pro-tree People
As I circled the police perimeter, a gentleman with a hefty beard and two Whole Foods bags asked me what I thought about the tree-sitter. I explained there was no point to him being in the tree. While the tee-sitters by the stadium were protesting the constriction of a gym, this person had no reason to be in the tree. The gentleman said “Fresh” was there to advocate democratizing the Regents, the body which sets the policy of the University of California. He went on to explain how the Regents got their jobs for political favors they did for the governor. Another gentleman, this time an older one, joined in and said how the Regents should be picked by a panel of faculty, students, citizens, and a farmer. I retorted by saying the Regents are appointed by the governor, who is elected by the people of the state.

This illustrates the problem with most protests in Berkeley. Many people show up with their own pet issues to protest. It is hard to figure out the main reason why “Fresh” went into the tree from simply walking by. There were signs, chalking, and small displays decrying the UC’s involvement with nuclear weapons, the $500 million BP deal, the construction of the gym by Memorial Stadium, the housing of Native American remains, democratizing the Regents, and other issues.

One group of people sat down in a circle and started to dialogue about issues, like corporate contracts with the University. Another group of people colassed around a couple of people who were having a heated argument. The anti-tree sitter communicated that many people on campus were against the tree-sitter and wanted him to come down and stop making Berkeley a laughing stock.

I should comment, all the people I talk to, except for the few who spent all their time at the foot of trees with people living in them, think the tree-sitters are stupid and need to come down. However, almost all the people I talk to are Republicans and Rally Committee members.

A tree sitter supporter held up a sign asking, “Does your Grandmother know you are at a hate rally?” The vocal anti-tree sitter responded by asking the person if his Grandmother knew he had no job, sat around all day by a tree, and was a failure.

I am glad the person is out of the tree. All we have to do now is get the rest of the hippies out of all the other trees.