Eric Langborgh

    Environmental activists on campus have failed to demonstrate the same concern for human life and property as they do for the lives of animals and the ecosystem. The so-called Earth Liberation Front started the new year with a blaze, taking credit for setting fire to a professor’s office at Michigan State. The conflagration comes just months after an animal rights group that calls itself the “Justice Department” mailed scores of envelopes containing razor blades to animal researchers at campuses across America.
    Associate Professor Catherine Ives, the director of MSU’s Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project, is without an office after the Earth Liberation Front set fire to her workplace on the fourth floor of Michigan State’s Agricultural Hall. Total damages add up to over $400,000. Water from the sprinkler system leaked to all four floors of the building, destroying computers and office equipment throughout the northeast end of the building.
    Law enforcement units from the Michigan State Police Department, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the FBI are currently investigating the matter.
    The Earth Liberation Front is best known for its part in setting afire part of the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado earlier last year, destroying three buildings and portions of four ski lifts to the tune of $12 million in damages. They claimed in a released statement that the Vail expansion plans would “ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado’s wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas.”
    Their stated goal is “to stop the destruction of natural habitat and the exploitation of the environment.”
    The Earth Liberation Front specifically targeted Ives at MSU, as made known through their fax sent to various media outlets. Especially repugnant to the group is Ives’ work on genetically engineered plants. This work is funded by Monsato Co. and the U.S. Agency for International Development, who seek to persuade developing nations to forego current agricultural practices in favor of genetic engineering techniques. The Earth Liberation Front claims this practice poses a threat to traditional crops, thereby necessitating retaliatory action against U.S. scientists.
    Ives could not be reached for comment, but is reportedly continuing her research despite fears for her safety.