University of Maryland’s Student Sustainability Council, an environmental department of the Student Government Association, created an artistic petition to save the Wooded Hillock behind the Comcast Center.
 
By placing a thumbprint in green paint on a canvas paintings of trees, 110 students signed a petition against the East Campus development. The leaf-like prints served as a symbol of the growing campus coalition dedicated to preserving the hillock.
 
“We’ve found in the past, people don’t like signing a petition,” Laura Calabrese, a senior sociology major on the council said. “If you’re outside Stamp with a clipboard, people tend to run away. With art, people are intrigued.”
 
The University’s recent designation as a “Tree Campus USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation nods to its “dedication to environmental stewardship,” according to University President Dan Mote. He joked this may give the pro-hillock students ammunition.
 
The signatures have not yet been presented to the administration.
 
Students feel that though the East Campus development would make room for university facilities, the hillock is a valuable asset to the professors and students who utilize the area as a place for peaceful convocation.

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