Early in Cornell's history, at the turn of the 20th century, banker and hardware magnate Robert H. Treman, Class of 1878, built his family estate on University Hill, just west of today's West Campus. Treman hired his friend Warren Manning, a pioneer of American landscape architecture, to design the site. The Ithaca Daily News of November 2, 1901 reported that the west lawn would be "left to nature as the best gardener." Upon his death in 1937, Treman, who preserved all of the Ithaca area's gorges, donated $5000 to the University expressly for the beautification of our campus. Much of his west lawn grew into beautiful Redbud Woods, which retains many original Manning design elements and boasts locally rare yellow oak and hackberry trees as well as an unusually dense stand of redbuds.

Now, at the turn of the 21 st century, Cornell proposes to turn Redbud Woods and a significant portion of the remaining lawn into a 176 car parking lot primarily for students.

In response, local residents organized the University Hill Neighborhood Association. The Ithaca Common Council, Planning Board, Landmarks Commission, and Mayor all weighed in against the parking lot. On campus, the Student Assembly resolved three times that the University should cancel the project. The Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association also resolved in favor of the Woods and against the lot. Well over 100 faculty members wrote to President Lehman asking him to preserve Redbud Woods. Forty signed onto a letter by Professors Thomas Eisner and A. Carl Leopold.

Last fall, President Lehman presented three challenges to the University, the third being sustainability. Since then, the President has more fully articulated Cornell's "institutional commitment to sustainability." But paving a beloved, historic urban green space for a surface parking lot is unsustainable. Parking needs can be satisfied elsewhere on campus and further mitigated through demand management, promotion of public transit, and wise planning. Cornell is a role model for its students and for the world. Today, the University has a unique opportunity to keep the campus picturesque and teach a valuable lesson about responsible stewardship in an age when humanity is reexamining its global ecological footprint. By saving Redbud Woods, you can make our institutional commitment to sustainability tangible.