Students monkeyed around in Free Speech Plaza on Tuesday by shaving their heads in an effort to prevent deforestation.
The student-led group Operation Tiger protested the Asia Pulp and Paper company, which is clearcutting, or stripping forests of their trees, and speeding up the extinction of endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger. Tigers have been classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered species since 1986.
Protestors got “clearcut” haircuts to demonstrate what deforestation looks like. Students took turns getting their heads shaved in assorted designs: the wondercut, the tiger stripe, the tiger hawk and the clearcut.
Operation Tiger members also took turns dressing up as orangutans and tigers, both of which they say are threatened by deforestation.
Jessica Seaman, Operation Tiger campus coordinator, said students should hold the University administration responsible for policies that are harmful to the environment.
She said there is a need to ensure the University doesn’t have economic ties with Asia Pulp and Paper.
As of press time Tuesday, University Media Relations director Ernie Ballard said he could not find any relationship between the University and the Asia Pulp and Paper company. Ballard said the University’s Office of Purchasing does not have the company listed as a vendor.
Seaman added that if the company continues to function as it does presently, it could result in the destruction of 98 percent of Indonesia’s rainforests by 2022. The Daily Reveille reported in 2011 that the number of tigers in the wild has dropped from 50,000 to 3,000 in the past 50 years, according to an estimate by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. At this current rate of decline, tigers could become extinct within 20 years.
Seaman said students need to demand that University administrators pass a policy forbidding the University from purchasing paper from unsustainable companies like Asia Pulp and Paper.
“We are tigers at LSU,” Seaman said. “This is about protecting the environment. Simple things can make a huge difference, and we can be that difference.”
Seaman said the University has a responsibility to set a precedent in environmental ethics.
“The goal is to spark policy change,” Seaman said.
Student Government Assistant Director of Sustainability Lauren Hull emphasized that the University’s failure to move toward sustainable paper purchasing, it puts tigers and others in danger of deforestation.
“I want to leave a sustainable paper legacy at LSU,” Hull said.
Seaman said this event is one of dozens taking place around the country to protest the paper company and to draw attention to environmental and economic impacts on communities around the world.
Students who participated in the protest said they enjoyed the free haircuts in support of the cause.
Accounting freshman Brad Cook said he wanted a haircut and saw someone post about the protest on Facebook.
“It seemed like a good enough cause,” Cook said. “And I got a free haircut out of it.”
Business freshman Derek Scheuermann said he believed in the cause.
“Our school mascot is a tiger,” Scheuermann said. “Why not save them?”
Operation Tiger set a goal of 20 haircuts to be given at the protest, which they achieved with 23 participants.
 
 
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Contact Lauren Duhon at [email protected]