Officials at the University of Victoria were left scratching their heads yesterday after students dug up the lawn in front of the McPherson Library to plant raised vegetable beds and native gardens
Campus site managers say they have been meeting with students to plan the university's next phase of community gardens, and thought the process was going well.
Noah Ross, 27, said the planters were students unaffiliated with any group. Danielle Stevenson, another participant, said the garden action was part initiative and part protest. Both said several student organizations have put forward proposals for a garden on campus for more than 15 years. "We haven't ever been able to realize that -- those proposals have not been accepted by the administration -- so today we decided to come out here and start gardening on our own," Stevenson said.
Stevenson acknowledged a community garden already exists on campus, but said that garden will be moved, since the current site is to be used for a storage facility. "The problem is that there is a long wait list for the garden," she said, adding the campus needs more gardening space.
Neil Connelly, director of campus planning and sustainability for the university, confirmed a storage facility will be built over the current garden, but said that plan has been around since 2003. The site was picked in 2006 as a temporary location for the garden until 2011.
UVic is also looking into creating a community garden in the family and student residential complex.
Thomas Smith, executive director of facilities management at UVic, said the site of the protest gardens will be replanted as lawn.
"We have a process here where projects like that go through a campus planning advisory committee."
That won't discourage the garden protesters, who pledge to re-build their gardens, said Ross. "We're hoping the garden will be allowed to flourish," Stevenson said.