Student activist looks to change face of MUC lawn

University of South Dakota junior Erica Kuharski is spearheading discussion in an effort to create a more sustainable area in the southeast lawn of the new Muenster University Center expansion, and her efforts have lead her to the office of President James Abbott.

“I was walking from class and I just saw all the dirt and I’m like, ‘Oh crap, they’re going to put grass there, aren’t they?'” Kuharski said.

Abbott said he could not say if a landscape contract has been signed for the space.

“There’s no sense in me asking them to alter their plans or to change them or to do something different until I know what she wants, and then I can see what we’ve contracted for. That was the idea — that she would let me know what she thought as soon as possible,” Abbott said.

He said he does not know what has been planned for the space but was willing to hear ideas to share with the contractor as he has had more than one individual talk to him about the issue.

Along with Kuharski, Student Government Association President Tyler Tordsen joined the conversation to discuss the area’s future.

Tordsen said no matter what ideas are put forward, Abbott has been realistic in considering other options.

Abbott said just because there may be something planned, it would not be off limits to talk about different possibilities.

“It doesn’t mean that it can’t be altered, but I’m not going to worry about that until I know what the group wants,” he said.

Abbott has allowed Kuharski to submit her ideas in writing for the space up until June 15.

To gain public attention, Kuharski organized a sit-in on the unfinished area outside the MUC at the beginning of April.

Kuharski led a core group of five students in a sit-in for four days and said she was out there for an average of three hours each day. The sit-ins involved green ribbons tied around the area and led to her wearing a bikini to prove the point.

Her goal was to make students pause in an effort to have something else be planted, besides the Kentucky blue grass she assumed would be the addition.

Majoring in anthropology with a double minor in conservation and biodiversity and women and gender studies, Kuharski said she became interested in the space after taking a sustainability class and planned the event to get the attention of students.

“I don’t care what happens to me in my personal reputation,” Kuharski said. “I can throw it all away if it means tomorrow everybody has their set in life of what they want to do, because I know what I want to do.”

The ideas she plans to submit to Abbott come with the assistance of faculty and knowledgeable sources. Kuharski said her ideas are simple, require less man work and can be easily maintained.

A butterfly garden, a courtyard with tables or adding buffalo grass are a few of the ideas she has thought of and heard from other students.

If one of her landscaping ideas is approved, Kuharski said she plans to propose the idea of a student group, called The Hufflepuff Club, to maintain the area all throughout the year.

Meghann Jarchow, coordinator of the sustainability program and assistant professor of biology, said the protests were not affiliated with the sustainability program or sustainability club. Jarchow also said Kuharski is looking to collaborating with Jarchow to get ideas together into a packet to present to Abbott on what the space could become.

As a prairie ecologist, Jarchow said she would like to see the university act as a model for sustainable landscapes and move toward incorporating more beneficial and diverse prairie plant features.

“Native plants use less water, you don’t have to fertilize them and they take less maintenance,” Jarchow said.

Putting more native landscaping into the bare area near the MUC, she said, would be different from what people expect to see as they are walking around campus.

Jarchow said the public would need to be reeducated on what a beautiful, “desirable” landscape would be and that it does not have to be the Kentucky blue grass commonly seen around campus.

“Prairies are the native landscape for this area and are really beautiful and have flowers associated with them, but are different from what we think we should expect for open spaces in this area,” Jarchow said.

Signs could be placed near the various types of plants as an educational feature, Jarchow said.

There may be an expense issue, Jarchow said, as the native plants can cost more to purchase than others.

She said for the prairie plants’ first year, it would cost $1,100, including the expensive prairie seed cost, and would amount to $25 per acre per year after, with the plants paying for themselves after a few years with the low-maintenance prices.

Kuharski said she obtained 40 signatures on a petition to create a different space than simply grass in an hour one day, and would like to see some of the same support from the students in the future since they have a lot of power, by simply reading or joining a sustainable club or just get interested.

“I’ve done my part, it’s your turn,” Kuharski said. “I’m hoping people will do something. They should do their own small steps.”