Eighteen Honors College students met on Monday, April 3, in the AD auditorium to discuss the fate of the Finals Tree.

            The finals tree, an artificial fir tree used to display candy and other snacks for students during finals week, was the subject of much debate last December when professor, Dr. Martin Sweet, protested that employing a Christian symbol in a public school-sponsored event was against the law. At an initial student-faculty forum, a number of students declared that removing the tree would offend more students than would keeping the tree in place. What ensued was a week of protesting via poster boards, mock alternatives such as the Finals Menorah, and lists of signatures declaring their support or objection to keeping the tree. After deciding to keep the tree in lieu of a replacement for the ’05 finals week, a standing committee made up of three teachers, three staff members, and three students decided to let students convene to offer suggestions for a tree replacement.

            Monday’s forum was the next step in deciding how to solve the Finals Tree dilemma. Each student who wanted to voice his or her opinion had two minutes to state what suggestions he or she thought would be appropriate replacements. Needless to say, an overarching tone of contempt wafted in the air at having to choose a replacement in the first place. Tina Perry commented, “There’s tradition at stake here.” Nearly all the students present at the forum wanted to keep the tree and for the first fifteen minutes threatened to rehash the old debate of whether we should keep the traditional fir tree.            

            Austin Boyle was the first to propose an alternative display, which he claimed was “the best idea.” He suggested that we use the old Honors College symbol as a model for the finals tree display since it was “another symbol taken from the students.”  Since the symbol, an Abacoa-style tower with two palm trees adjacent to each side, originated as an Honors College symbol, Boyle was confident that it would not offend anyone. Eyehooks screwed into a 3-D structure made to look like the logo tower would be used to hang candy, bags of potato chips and crackers, and other snacks.

            Carolyn Kulb suggested a more simplified version of Boyle’s idea, with her recommendation of an artificial palm tree. ICC director, Kyle Ashby, proposed that students and faculty make use of recently donated pvc piping and hammocks that were recently used in Diversitas week. Hammocks would stretch between the piping and hold a mass of candy and snacks out of which students could choose.

            Suggestions were not free of snide remarks. Walker Hicken sarcastically proposed “just recreating Jesus on the cross and hang candy from it.” Erik Raborn suggested using oversized block letters that spelled out T-R-E-E. And Jon Perle recommended the oversized block letters, T-H-C, for The Honors College, a popular slang term used by HC students but also commonly known as the initials of tetrahydrocannabinol, the major psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

            After proposing various ideas, the students voted on viable options to present to the standing committee for final approval.  Governor Jared Velez, acting as forum mediator, outlined the following candidates: The former HC logo, T-R-E-E, T-H-C, a hammock between two palm trees, an alternative arboreal choice, student-led design each semester, an event (no structure), bins/barrels, a statue, or opening up sponsorship campus wide. The top three winners were the old HC logo, which garnered 12 votes, an alternative arboreal option, winning 1 vote, and the letters T-H-C, which secured 3 votes (1 person abstained).

            After presenting the ideas to the committee, constructing the new choice will be the next challenge. Given a limited budget, Boyle proposed using plywood and using campus tools for construction. Kulb suggested making the structure collapsible by using hinges, which would reduce the amount of space needed for storage.

            Construction of the new Finals Display will take place following the convening of the standing committee but will require that HC students participate in making the replacement. With only one month away from finals week, having a finals display is contingent on HC students following through on its completion.