Students Stand Up for Trees

Sixty students at Western Michigan University protested the removal of more than 30 trees on campus Wednesday in preparation for a new construction project, Kalamazoo News reported. The project will develop the university’s South Neighborhood and will include new student housing and a student center.

Of the 58 trees in the construction zone, nine will remain, one is diseased and must be removed, and 12 will be relocated, Paula Davis, a university spokesperson told the Kalamazoo News. In addition, the university will plant 75 trees on campus to replace the 36 that will be removed, per a university policy that requires they plant two trees for every one that is removed.