Suspicious activity at UF has led to changes around campus, including the removal of vegetation.
Alyssa Cho, a UF agronomy graduate student who teaches two courses in McCarty Hall B, said she witnessed workers removing vegetation around the hall after a sexual assault in the area.
“I noticed it right away, but then it became extreme,” Cho said. “I could hear it when I was teaching.”
In August, a female UF student was grabbed by a man when she was walking between McCarty Hall buildings B and C at night.
As a plant scientist, Cho was determined to find out why UF decided to take away the surrounding plants. She emailed the Sustainability and Energy Integration department for an answer.
“In response to the assaults this semester, there has been a large concern from the campus community about the understory vegetation and the tree canopies around lights,” the office’s director, Matthew Williams, wrote in an email to Cho. “Physical Plant has been charged by upper administration with clearing it to help allay the concerns.”
University Police spokesman Maj. Brad Barber wrote in an email that he is unaware of the reasoning behind this particular case and does not know if the sexual assaults have anything to do with it.
“Regardless, I am aware that there have been numerous locations around campus where vegetation was cut back to allow for greater lighting and this could be one of those locations,” Barber said.
Cho said cutting plants isn’t enough to make campus a safer learning environment.
“It seems a little strange,” Cho said. “I think it’s an irrational response.”
