Spartan Daily

Removal of SJSU G.R.O.W. club garden sparks debate

Nick Rivelli, Spartan Daily

Nick Ingle reads to his son Elliot Ingle on the garden plot outside of Clark Hall on Sunday afternoon.

According to Yan Yin Choy, co-founder and former president of G.R.O.W., the club’s faculty adviser received an email Wednesday from Facilities Development and Operations that said the club would need to remove their plants from the planters, but did not specify a deadline.

Choy, the A.S. director of student rights and responsibilities, said she heard from a friend who works in the President’s office that relocation might come forcibly from Facilities as soon as last Friday.

In response, Choy and Samantha Clark, A.S. director of community and environmental affairs, wrote a letter to President Qayoumi asking for his support in keeping the garden in its current location.

Choy said a petition is also circulating through the student population on campus and has collected more than 200 signatures.

Shawn Bibb, vice president of administration and finance and Chief Financial Officer for SJSU, said Facilities has been receiving comments about the garden regarding its appearance.

“That space is designed as planters,” he said. “It’s for flowers. There’s a request for something more appealing.”

Bibb said he was surprised that this issue came into the spotlight so quickly because there have been no decisions made or a timeline established.

“I think that maybe we did a bad job of communicating,” he said. “It’s not our intention to come in and rip it out and destroy the garden. It’s a student initiative and a faculty initiative and we’re not just going to rip it out. As far as I know there is absolutely no date when things need to get done.”

Senior English major Marisa Gomez said she saw the petition on Facebook and signed it. She said she enjoys sitting out by the garden and appreciates that it is producing something tangible.

“I’d much rather it be something useful, something people are passionate about rather than just another pretty plot,” she said. “And for me this is the most apparent aspect of this sustainability mission that is going on here.”

Professor Anne Marie Todd, chair of the sustainability board, stated in an email the garden is an educational tool.

“The garden’s centralized location and active use fulfills SJSU's sustainability vision as a 3-D sustainability project: a visible, working example that thousands of students pass every week,” she said.

According to Choy, the garden, which currently has tomato, eggplant, oregano, mint, collard greens, kale, artichokes and watermelon planted, produces about 30 pounds of food each semester and provides 600 hours of service learning to SJSU students.

Students who are interested volunteer to help with the planting, maintenance and harvest of the garden, and they receive food produced in return, she said.

Aesthetically, Choy said the seasonality of vegetables presents a challenge, especially since the club propagates its own seeds from the past years' harvest, which requires leaving some of the harvest to die.

“We’re growing vegetables seasonally, so there’s not always going to be green vegetables in the garden,” she said.

The garden was founded by Marjorie Freedman, an assistant professor of nutrition, in 2009 and taken over by the gardening club in 2010.

Choy said the central location is part of what makes the garden an effective space.

“There are some spaces we need to cherish on campus,” she said.  “We can’t relocate to a less visible space.”

Freedman said the club will not relocate to another location. 

“They’re trying to save face,” she said. “They want something that looks better. They mentioned Washington Square and the botany garden. No, I wanted that location for specific reasons.”

Two of the potential relocation areas are the sustainability agriculture garden by Washington Square Hall and the botany garden near the A.S. House.

Rachel O' Malley, an associate professor of environmental studies, is the current faculty member who organizes the sustainability agriculture garden.

In an email she stated that demand for that garden space has been very high and growing.

“It is currently used by at least five environmental studies sections, over 150 students, during the year, as well as environmental studies department graduations and special speaker events,” she stated. “The student club, G.R.O.W., has had access to this garden during summers, to supplement their other activities. There is no more room for other G.R.O.W. activities at this site, unfortunately.”

In the past, the botany garden has been cared for by the department of biological sciences and the now disbanded SJSU botany club, according to the garden’s website.

Bibb said the botany garden is no longer being maintained, is overgrown and has a rat infestation.

Senior social science major Elise MacDonald said more publicity about the garden would be beneficial.

“I think we all were like, ‘This is cool,’ but no one knows who puts it on,” she said. “A lot of times you walk by and it looks like it hasn’t been watered so I can understand why they would think it’s not being kept up, but it’s still something. It’s nice to have gardening on campus.”

In an email sent Friday, Anton Kashiri, associate vice president for Facilities Development and Operations, said Facilities would be working with SJSU’s campus architect to relocate the garden to another area and will include representatives from the affected program for their input.