By Kimberly Peterson

Arizona Daily Wildcat

In another protest of the Mount Graham International Observatory, about 20 Student Environmental Action Coalition members occupied a Tucson office yesterday morning, a tactic resulting in four arrests.

SEAC members spent more than an hour in the lobby of the Research Corporation, 101 N. Wilmot Road, waiting to talk to corporation president John Schaefer, also a former University of Arizona president.

"We are holding the Research Corporation responsible for its actions on Mount Graham," said Anne Carl, an environmental education graduate student. "We want to find out how much money theyÕre willing to commit to this project, and we want them to pull out."

The Research Corporation is a private foundation for the advancement of science that encourages research in colleges and universities.

The corporation has promised to give a grant to the telescopes, said SEAC member Dave Hodges. The grant could be as much as $7 million, he said.

Schaefer said in 1993 that the corporation did not expect to give more than about $3 million, states the SEAC press

One SEAC member climbed the scaffolding surrounding the office building and hung a large banner that said "Research Corporation Fund$ Extinction + Genocide." A security officer soon cut down the banner.

SEAC members Christine Graziano and James Jorden locked their necks to a door in the Research Corporation office with bicycle U-Locks.

"I think actions like this are necessary to prove a point," said Graziano, a wildlife and fisheries sophomore.

"Civil disobedience is a time-honored way for the disempowered to become empowered," Jorden said. "I feel a rush of dignity and power."

Schaefer never came out to meet the protestors, and Steven Schuyler, the building manager, was called to the office.

"I want you to remove your butts from my building," Schuyler said. "Either dispose or be arrested. I'm real

Schuyler insisted that the SEAC members were not at the office on business and informed them that the police were on the way.

"It's obvious that they're afraid to talk to us, and that's a statement in itself," said SEAC member Dee Soto. "We need to see a change. We're trying to preserve what's left of our culture."

Tucson Police Department Captain Anthony Daykin and officers James Rees and Mike Lara arrived to escort the group out of the building. The group peacefully left, and were met outside by TPD officers David Berry and James Auen.

More than 20 police officers were summoned to the scene and escorted the protesters off of the building property. The group waited just outside the property line.

TPD arrested Jorden, Graziano, Henry Soto, an agriculture sophomore, and W. Carter Gremp, a journalism freshman. All were charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, said Hodges, and released on their own recognizance.

ÒOur preference in these types of things is not to make an arrest unless we have to,Ó Daykin said. "But we can't leave them chained to people's doors."

Overall, SEAC members said they were happy with the morning's events.

"The only way it could have been better is if everybody stayed in the room and didn't leave," said Jim Leonard, a nuclear engineering graduate student. "At least it disrupted their everyday business for an hour and a

Schaefer was not available for comment.

Today has been named International Day of Actions for Mount Graham. Protest demonstrations will be held in more than 40 U.S. cities and four other countries, according to a SEAC press release. Read Next Article