During the first half of the month of November, Dave Cooper took me on a New England tour with his Mountaintop Removal Roadshow. We visited Columbia University, Skidmore College, Salem State College, Eastern University, Emerson College, College of the Atlantic, and Green Mountain College, recruiting new activists and raising critical funds.

Dave has been doing the roadshow for eight years now, educating college students across the U.S. about mountaintop removal and teaching other activists how to speak about their struggles. When he heard that RAMPS members were facing their second winter without having housing secured, he volunteered to take me on the road to talk about the RAMPS treesit and the direct action campaign. Dave Cooper is generously donating all proceeds from the tour to the RAMPS housing fund.

Some of the students we spoke to didn’t really know about mountaintop removal, and bringing our story to them was one of the most gratifying aspects of our trip. At Emerson, for example, students in the environmental organization said that they may dedicate their next semester to working on MTR. Another rewarding aspect was that got to have some valuable discussions, whether in the hall for the East Lynn Labor Council or while wandering Green Mountain’s rural campus; many people on our peregrination had experiences, advice, and wisdom to share.

We’re now about $1,700 closer to our goal of having a campaign house. Some day maybe we’ll have internet and phone access to get our work done, heat to keep our hands thawed, a kitchen to keep our bodies fed, and a common space so that everyone who wants to work on the campaign has a place to come, and everyone who is already working on the campaign has a place to be together and collaborate effectively.

Friday morning at 9:30, I walked into Skidmore’s Residential Life conference room to begin the hearing that would decide whether or not the tree sit violated Skidmore’s Honor Code and Student Codes of Conduct.  Several days prior I had received a packet of information, including a piece of paper asking me to mark if I believed I was guilty or not guilty of committing the violation. The hearing began with introductions and general formalities, and then delved into questioning why I checked not guilty as well as a more thorough explanation of the sit, what happened, why, etc.  It was here that I was able to explain that I had tried other methods at ending mountaintop removal, including lobbying for a ban on underground slurry injections and helping to organize the March on Blair Mountain.  I explained that the coal industry’s control in Appalachia goes beyond the land and into the courts and governmental agencies.  At that point, someone read a letter from Alpha, helping to show even more that their “nice” facade that they attempting to uphold during the sit was merely that, a facade.  They claimed that I should absolutely be disciplined by Skidmore because their actions are lawful (well, let’s address how you don’t follow regulations or permits and also that the laws are created by politicians and judges who are bought out by you…) and as a result what I did was unlawful.  With well-paid lawyers and insidious manipulation of the law, the villains are able to construct statements that make us look like the bad people, when in reality we know who is poisoning communities, destroying diverse forests and mountains, and erasing a rich culture.

After about an hour and a half of questioning and an invigorating statement from my faculty “character witness,” there was a closed deliberation.  I came back into the room and the advising committee of three faculty advisers and the Dean of Residential Life (Don Hastings) explained that they could only see me sort of violating one of the codes (the code that says students can’t break any federal, state, or local laws) but that claiming I violated all the codes I was accused of violating would be taking it entirely out of context. So based on that, they determined that I did NOT in fact violate any of the codes!

I want to send a HUGE thank you to everyone who was able to write letters, emails, and phone calls and all others who were there in support. These words were certainly helpful in showing that there was an incredible amount of support not just for me, but for this type of action and response to the illegality of mountaintop removal mining and other forms of environmental injustice, social injustice, and corporate domination. I hope that this case sets not only a precedent for other cases at Skidmore, but that it propels other students to act in similar ways.

Solidarity.