Friends of the 10 black willow trees cut down at NIU’s East Lagoon during semester break will gather in the King Memorial Commons to remember them today.

Members of the environmental group Earth First! will meet for a 12:45 p.m. memorial service.

“We want to show that there is student support for making changes in policy,” said member Brad Fish. A more progressive environmental attitude at NIU would attract more students, Fish said.

Earth First! has suggested ways to better the campus to James Harder, vice president of Business and Operations. They wrote him and asked that he consider halting the cutting of trees “until the (NIU) Environmental Committee reconvenes under the presence of a representative from each environmental and wildlife preservation group on campus.”

The group’s letter prompted Harder to ask the University Council to consider “increasing the membership on the University Campus Environmental Committee to include a broader representation for students,” but no policies have been discussed yet.

Two students serve on the committee. Earth First! would want those representatives to have voting power on issues affecting the campus environment.

They also want three trees to be planted for each of the 10 removed.