Council Oak should remain standing
University needs to strive to keep balance between big city-small town feel
Sara Nemec
Issue date: 10/1/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
Other than what I've read in the papers, I didn't know anything about the Council Oak tree. So, like any good investigative reporter, I decided to give a face to a name and set out to meet the tree standing in the forest of the Student Center controversy. Trudging through the parking lot toward the Nursing building, I came upon a slender oak tied with ribbons with yellow gourds leaning against its trunk. Here was the mighty symbol of our university.
Upon examining it, I was underwhelmed. The other trees placed sporadically in the parking lot were bigger, grander, more majestic looking things. This tree seemed smaller than the picnic bench placed beside it. I couldn't help but think of the two million dollars being spent on replaning the student center to preserve it. This tree hardly seemed worth the effort.
Couldn't it make a lovely stool to place beside the bench made from the original Council Oak?
No, I decided. The symbolism behind the Council Oak meant more to community members and the university than the puny little tree it embodied.
After some deliberation, I narrowed it to three reasons that the Council Oak should continue to stand undisturbed and over the next few paragraphs I will explain them.
One reason I enjoy living and going to school in the Eau Claire is that it truly is a unique place to be. Eau Claire combines some of the culture and opportunities of a bigger city with the natural beauty of a more rural area. One can spend a morning shopping at Oakwood Mall and the afternoon paddling down the Chippewa River. To me, that's special.
The UW-Eau Claire campus captures and is a continuation of the essence of the city: that lovely balance between big city and small town and the Council Oak is part of that. If you ask me, the UW-Eau Claire campus gets a lot of its character from its flower beds, trees and the river with its resident bald eagle that occasionally flies through campus. The university needs to strive to uphold this balance that makes it so unique, not undermine it by putting in building after building thoughtlessly.
Upon examining it, I was underwhelmed. The other trees placed sporadically in the parking lot were bigger, grander, more majestic looking things. This tree seemed smaller than the picnic bench placed beside it. I couldn't help but think of the two million dollars being spent on replaning the student center to preserve it. This tree hardly seemed worth the effort.
Couldn't it make a lovely stool to place beside the bench made from the original Council Oak?
No, I decided. The symbolism behind the Council Oak meant more to community members and the university than the puny little tree it embodied.
After some deliberation, I narrowed it to three reasons that the Council Oak should continue to stand undisturbed and over the next few paragraphs I will explain them.
One reason I enjoy living and going to school in the Eau Claire is that it truly is a unique place to be. Eau Claire combines some of the culture and opportunities of a bigger city with the natural beauty of a more rural area. One can spend a morning shopping at Oakwood Mall and the afternoon paddling down the Chippewa River. To me, that's special.
The UW-Eau Claire campus captures and is a continuation of the essence of the city: that lovely balance between big city and small town and the Council Oak is part of that. If you ask me, the UW-Eau Claire campus gets a lot of its character from its flower beds, trees and the river with its resident bald eagle that occasionally flies through campus. The university needs to strive to uphold this balance that makes it so unique, not undermine it by putting in building after building thoughtlessly.
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