Science Hill tree-sit organizers and supporters write, "As you may have heard, on February 24th, some kind of protest took place at the home of a UCSC researcher who experiments on animals. Hyped-up news articles and administrative messages on campus have led some people to associate this protest with the Tree-Sit on Science Hill. We wish to take this opportunity to make it clear that the tree-sit is NOT affiliated.

"The tree-sit uses civil disobedience as a way of drawing attention to the issues of expansion, and physically preventing trees from being cut down. While many of us are concerned with the University's plan to replace animal habitats with animal testing facilities, we are focusing on the long term impacts that the university's planned construction will have on life in Santa Cruz and the forest in upper campus."