The Martlet

A group of gardeners is growing a thriving crop of controversy on campus, one plot at a time.

At noon on Wednesday, March 24, organizers from the Food Not Lawns Collective (FNLC) and a number of students rallied around Petch Fountain for a “teach-out in urban gardening,” complete with speeches, free food and tea.

“We have the opportunity to act and create the worlds we have in our hearts and bring them out and manifest them — that is what this event is about,” said emcee and FNLC member Matt Loewen at the event. “Let’s start some food production on campus right now.”

Loewen, a UVic political science and environmental studies student, called on the university to offer students what they “really” need.

“We need creative outlets of education that are hands-on and link our learned knowledge and lived experiences,” he said.

Shovels, plants and material for raised beds were handed out to spectators. About 50 students joined in and started digging up the sod between Petch Fountain and a totem pole in front of the McPherson Library. The group was quickly joined by passers-by, and a large crowd assembled around the gardeners.

Students, faculty and community members collaborated to build and plant 10 beds in total.

Helping hands -

Environmental studies professor Karen Hurley was one faculty member onsite with her 400-level class, Women and Environments.

“We have been studying how change happens,” she said.

“If there is going to be any meaningful change on campus, we have to un-settle this place,” said Noah Ross of FNLC. “Through collective action we can remake ourselves and the places we live in from the ground up.”

Campus Security approached protesters several times during the event, but their warnings did not discourage the group. Security was concerned that the noise of the Wild Rumpus marching band was disrupting study time in the library and around campus, without permission.

Just over an hour into planting, Saanich police arrived.

“While everyone has the right to congregate for a common purpose, the idea is not to have any property destroyed,” said Saanich Police Department Acting Sgt. Dan Mayo. “What we’re going to try to do is identify who’s actually causing the damage, and potentially there can be criminal charges that come of it.”

Protesters formed a circle around gardeners who continued to plant despite these police statements.

“When the police showed up and they threatened people with arrest, the circle formed and people protected each other, kept digging, and they got rid of that institutional fear,” said Loewen.

By day’s end, the garden had vegetables, strawberries, kalal and rows of Camas bulbs. Elementary school students had joined the gardening. They took turns with the megaphone.

“From a university perspective, this is a destruction of property and we will continue to move quickly to deal with damage,” UVic Director of Communications Bruce Kilpatrick told the Martlet. “We’re mystified because we’re not sure who we’re dealing with. One hundred to 200 people descended in front of the library doing considerable damage. Large quantities of rock were moved and piles of work were constructed. This took several thousands of dollars to repair [in] staff time and material. There is a heavy dose of ideology in this.”

Fruits fraught for nothing -

FNLC had plans to plant and water throughout the summer, and hold a public feast at harves t time. They never got the chance.

At midnight on March 26, campus administration and Saanich police used bulldozers to remove 10 garden plots,read an FNLC release.

There were still two people at the garden at the time of the bulldozing. A man was arrested for “assault by trespass,” while his companion rode with him in the police van. They were dropped off at home afterwards.

“I can’t say [police] dropped them off right at their front door, but in the area — they essentially gave them a ride home,” said Kilpatrick.

Many students were horrified by the university’s response.

“Yesterday, we proved that we, as students, can build a sustainable and positive relationship with the land,” said UVic student Joyce Lyell. “With the bulldozing of our gardens, it is now more obvious than ever that UVic values lawns over sustainable food, and values control of students over student choice and ingenuity.”

Despite UVic administration’s attempts to contact the individuals they think may be involved, no one has agreed to meet with them.

“Many of us reasoned that, if UVic has ignored formal proposals for agriculture and garden space for well over 10 years, it is ludicrous for the administration to now tell students that there are ‘appropriate channels’ to go through to get permission to garden, and to tell us that initiating meaningful change on our own is wrong,” said one student gardener, who wished to remain anonymous.

A plot not forgotten -

In 2008, the UVic Food Collaborative submitted a proposal to the administration requesting to grow food on the Cedar Hill corner lot at UVic (also known as the CJVI Lands). They have yet to hear a response.

`UVic greenwashes itself as a green university in comparison,” said Loewen. “Green means growing your own food. It doesn't mean building buildings onto where you could grow food despite how ‘environmentally friendly’ the developments are.”

Many gardening protesters were enraged by rumours that the Campus Community Gardens would soon be paved over to make room for a storage facility. However, Director of Campus Planning and Sustainability Neil Connelly says “there's no building plans for that site.”

In 2006, an arrangement was made between UVic and the Campus Community Garden that gave the garden five more years of tenancy on their piece of land. Those five years will end in September 2011, leaving the garden's future uncertain. Also, in the 2003 Campus Plan, the current location of the community garden was identified for development.

“We have opportunities to expand campus gardens,” said Connelly. He has been meeting with garden executives to map out a future location that is more permanent and visible.

“We always knew it was a temporary site. It's a reality for all urban agriculture,” said Ada Saab, an executive director of the garden. “We understand [the protesters] completely, but we're not working with them in any way.”

RIP student gardens -

When the bulldozers’ work was discovered on Thursday morning, March 25, students put up paper signs on the site reading “RIP student gardens.” A flag hung off the totem pole at the site, flying the words “Shame on UVic.”

At 1 p.m., students reassembled back on the deconstructed site of the garden. Approximately 50 people rallied, then marched from the garden to UVic’s Administrative Services. But by the time protesters arrived at the University Centre, Campus Security and Saanich Police were at the doors.

“Folks were angry, and we didn’t know who they were or what their intentions were,” said Kilpatrick. “They were aggressive.”

In the end, doors were locked to keep protesters, who were demanding an apology from the facility, out.

“This is indicative of the administration’s cowardice, that they refuse concerned students entry into the building whose administrators claim to represent them,” said UVic student Erin Davis.

UVic President David Turpin was off campus all day in meetings.

No throwing in the trowel -

At press time, the guerrilla gardeners promised to start their efforts again in the coming week.

“It’s hard to tell [what will happen next],” said Kilpatrick. “We just don’t know. What’s important to us is pressing for those meetings and clarifying false information.”

Kilpatrick adds that the university has structures in place to meet with students and deal with these issues. There are also meetings being held with Campus Community Gardens and the campus planning facility.

“We’re going to keep this going and start building in a real way because it’s completely unacceptable for a university as an institution to keep importing food when we have all this arable land and people who want to do this,” said Loewen. “When you actually grow your own food, you actually cherish it.”

Check the Martlet website for updates as the story unfolds.