Are we, the students, like our metonymical mascot,The noble, if misunderstood, burrowing owl?Your tuition hike taxes pay for paving parking lots,Over the land our native birds prowl.

The building that now houses animal researchWas once where these dislocated birds were perched.

Where is the outrage? Where are the protests?The FAU students are interred in their nests.

If we aren’t in class, we cannot be found.The campus community has no common ground.

We’ve branded our T-shirts and embroidered our capsWith the images of the owls we’ve wiped off the map.

For every gold-plated shovel that breaks through new earth.The administration shows what they think we’re worth.

We’re valued at the devastation of an entire populationAs long as it benefits the FAU Foundation.

We do not eat insects, but we do share a home.We cannot pretend that we live here alone.

So is it up to the contractors to halt the construction?Is the administration at fault for this egregious incursion?Or is apathy to blame for the owls’ destruction?It is high time we renew the students’ sense of subversion.