Eric Zuniga, Campus Carrier managing editor

Berry commemorated the replanting of the Liberty Tree outside Evans in a ceremony Tuesday, two years after the original tree was felled by a severe thunderstorm that brought extreme winds to the area.

Associate Professor of Political Science Michael Bailey, Professor of Communication Brian Carroll and Provost David Slade spoke at the dedication of the new tree, which was planted in March. The Liberty Tree honors a famous elm tree in Boston that was the site of many Patriot acts of resistance against the British government during the American Revolution. The tree was the focal point of a secret society that advocated for colonial rights called the Sons of Liberty. It was burned down in the Siege of Boston. 

“We may be especially planting this tree to remember liberty and to remember the purposefulness of this history and its relevance,” Slade said at the ceremony.

Berry’s first Liberty Tree, planted in 2009, was made possible by a $5,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation’s Liberty Tree Initiative. The initiative’s purpose is to educate the public about the fundamental freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Berry was the first school to receive a grant under the initiative, and the original tree’s planting was marked by a week of talks by guest speakers about the importance of free speech.

The tree fell in March 2023, when a severe thunderstorm downed many trees across campus and knocked out power before Spring Break. The McCormick Foundation has provided Berry with another Jefferson elm to replace the original tree. 

Bailey used the tree’s dedication ceremony to stress the importance of American civil liberties.

“Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers spoke of liberty and dignity and happiness as a piece — they’re intertwined,” Bailey said. “Here in this place of learning, remember that our dignity as a people demands liberty not for some but for all.”