UPDATE : A statement from President Lowry on the tree removal.
After two weeks of rain and windstorms, with gusts measuring in excess of 50 miles-per-hour, Lipscomb is forced to say goodbye to some beloved trees.
On Friday afternoon, April 15, campus safety and security personnel began a second round of trim work on the “wishbone tree.” Storms from this past Monday and April 4 caused many large branches to fall from the tree, and campus safety cut down many of the branches in danger of falling as a safety precaution.
Click here to view video footage of campus safety trimming the tree earlier this week.
Student Government Association President Jackson Sprayberry confirmed that this, the “wishbone tree,” and the other larger tree in Bison Square will be “coming down soon.” Sprayberry sent this email out to the student body this afternoon, offering explanation and future plans for Bison Square:
Lumination photo editor Whitney Jarreld snapped this shot of a branch dropping to the ground.
“While we often become uneasy in accepting big changes, it is necessary for the tree in Bison Square to come down. The tree is over-matured, disease-ridden, and nearly rotten. Pieces of the tree have been crashing to the ground in every storm we have had this season, thus creating a heightened concern for student safety.
But don’t fret!
Your Student Government has already made plans to implant two maple trees in the square that, in a few short years, will provide increased shade from the current trees and also provide beautiful, colorful foliage each Autumn.”
Students seem upset about the trees they’ve come to know and love being chopped down. Senior family relations major Katlyn Gupton, from Knoxville, Tenn., tweeted her farewell to a tree for which she is grateful.
Tree branches cut, they are prepared to be removed from the square.
“Goodbye wishbone tree. Thank you for your shade. Rest in peace.”
Apparently, the trees are on Twitter! Follow @LUSquareTrees to know how the trees feel about being chopped down.
Lipscomb alumnus Jake Morgan tweeted this realization upon seeing the tree in its final minutes of life.
“We are witnessing the end of an age.”
While students are not excited about changes like this happening to the campus, Sprayberry assures them that these changes are necessary for their safety for for the future beauty of Lipscomb’s campus.