Students revive protest against Mt. Graham scopes

"We're out here to tell people the Mount Graham issue will never go away," said Michael Spadefoot, a member of the Student Environmental Action Coalition.

Members of SEAC and the National Federation of Autonomous Free States participated in the protest.

Spadefoot said members of SEAC and NFAFS believe the university's actions in building the telescopes on Mount Graham are cultural genocide.

He said that in cases of cultural genocide, an institution uses its power to override the rights of others.

The university's recent exemptions from environmental and cultural laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Environmental Policy Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, are examples of this abuse of power, said Chris Ford, a theater arts senior and UA coordinator for SEAC.

"What the UA isn't telling the public is that there is evidence that indicates the building of the telescopes will make the Red Squirrel extinct," Ford said.

Semiannual census studies of the Red Squirrel population, conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the UA, show a somewhat steady number of about 300 to 400 squirrels over the last six years.

Ford said the telescope construction area on Mount Graham is also considered sacred land to the San Carlos Apache Indian tribe.

Last June, the U.S. Forest Service gave the university permission to build the telescopes. That sparked a request by the Apache Survival Coalition for a restraining order, which was later denied by a federal district court judge in Tucson.

The coalition, an organization of traditional Western Apache religious leaders and elders, appealed their case April 14 to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco for a full hearing.

A decision is still pending, and the university is allowed to continue construction under the Mount Graham Observatory permit until a ruling is reached.

For centuries, Western Apaches have known Mount Graham as Dzil Nchaa Si An, a place of central importance in their cultural and religious ceremonies.

The foundation for the Large Binocular Telescope is complete and the rest of the construction has been delayed because of an error in casting the lens for the telescope.

About four university police officers observed the protest from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"The police are here because they probably think we are a bunch of lunatics on the fringe of insanity," Spadefoot said. "There might have been a fear by the administration that the truth would come out."

Officers said they were there to ensure that the demonstration remained peaceful.

Spadefoot said the protest received a lot of vocal support from students who walked by.