HAVERFORD — All students across Haverford’s campus received a communication from Campus Safety on the morning of Mar. 21 at 10:41 a.m. warning community members to “Avoid Taped Off Area in front of the Dining Center,” noting that a tree was in danger of falling in the area.
Soon, the area of avoidance had widened to include the space between Lutnick Library and Chase Hall, a central area of campus blocked off with caution tape, and multiple entrances to campus building had been closed.
Claudia Kent, Arboretum Director and Assistant Director of Facilities Management told the Bi-Co News that she was alerted to the danger that morning, when a horticulturist had noticed that the base of a spruce tree in the Peace Garden was “fractured and … moving with the wind.”
The arboretum’s tree company, John B. Ward, was called and came immediately to take a look. Jim Ward, one of John B. Ward’s arborists, placed a winch strap on the spruce to hold it in place while a crane was called in to take the tree down. Within the hour, the tree was being felled piece by piece.
