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On April 11, an 80-year-old Maple tree will be cut down for construction of the new Chinook Student Center at the site of the old Bookie.

The tree has been there since before the old Bookie was built in 1954, and will be removed to make room for an expanded mechanical room.

Cynthia Arbour, a project manager for the department of facilities services and chair of the Campus Tree Committee at WSU said they try to cut down as few trees as possible but the building needs to expand.

“The mechanical room has to be bigger since the building will require more energy,” Arbour said.

The new building will have saunas and a hot yoga studio, according to the Chinook Student Center website.

Liz Siler, an assistant clinical professor in the English department said she disagrees with the plans for removing the tree.

“It’s a travesty…” she said. “Anybody with a brain would be disgusted by this.”

Siler has been involved with multiple tree-saving initiatives on campus, including one where she held “lunch-ins” and encouraged students to eat lunch underneath the trees in front of Avery Hall.

Siler said that WSU has removed healthy trees in the past. WSU removed several trees between Bryan hall and Avery hall that Siler described as “amazing.”

She said that before the trees were removed they provided shade and aesthetic features.

“It’s shocking, the message of disrespect for the environment that we’re sending to our undergraduate and graduate students,” Siler said.

When Siler questioned why those trees were removed WSU said they created a “cave-like effect.”

Reporting by Dana Jensen