"JEFF TEDFORD LOOKED out of his office window and saw helicopters circling. Below, a crowd had gathered to watch the last holdouts finally descend from an oak tree beside California Memorial Stadium. TV news vans lined Piedmont Avenue in Berkeley, and rooftops across campus filled with people hoping for a glimpse of what was happening. Tedford, Cal's most successful coach of the modern era, had grown accustomed to the odd scene."
"The patch of campus had embodied one of the many contradictions of Berkeley -- a place where an environmental protest and big-time college football could unfold on opposite sides of the same stadium wall. "It was like a fricking circus," Tedford said recently. "My office was about a hundred feet from the trees, so I got to see most of it and hear most all of it.""
Jeff Tedford observed helicopters, media and crowds as activists descended from an oak tree beside California Memorial Stadium. Activists began a Save the Oaks tree-sit in December 2006 to protest removal of an oak grove for a seismic retrofit and facilities upgrade. Some activists lived in trees and built platforms, ropes, pulleys and zip lines that formed a treetop village. The standoff lasted roughly 21 months, from the 2006 Big Game to the start of the 2008 season. The protest gained international attention as Cal football surged in national rankings, and media coverage included a naked photo shoot of protesters.
Read at ESPN.com
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