OCC clubs branch out

COSTA MESA —

It was an event designed with a message of racial harmony, and for a half an hour on the Orange Coast College quad, there was one predominant color: green.

Wednesday morning at OCC, three student clubs — the Jewish Student Assn., United Muslim Assn. and Irish Culture Club — banded together to plant an orange tree in front of the Robert B. Moore Theatre. The Jewish and Muslim groups had conceived the idea last fall as a gesture of solidarity, and soon after, the Irish club joined when it realized that the tree-planting could serve as a preview to its environmental festival in March.

Early on Wednesday, a group of maintenance workers fit the tiny orange tree into a planter by the theater. The crowd that assembled for the 11 a.m. ceremony consisted of members of all three clubs, student government officials and passersby, but with most of those in attendance wearing Green Festival 2007 T-shirts, it looked like one, allencompassing group.

“The tree was a symbolic … [gesture] because it helps the environment, no matter where you come from, no matter your religion or color,” said professor Irini Vallera-Rickerson, the advisor of the United Muslim Assn.

As Vallera-Rickerson, student trustee Regis Jues and others took the microphone, those in attendance crowded the planters by the theater and enjoyed free pizza. Bunches of green balloons flanked the new orange tree, planted next to a pair of others that the Jewish club installed last year.

Gilad Salmon, the co-president of the club, said he wanted the trees to serve as an inspiration for future students at OCC.

“We’re hoping that for generations further down the line, students will be able to come and grab the fruit of the seed we planted today,” he said.

The three clubs also plan to collaborate on the Green Festival, set for the week of March 19. Among the events scheduled are music performances by the Fenians and Exit and a screening of the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”

George Arvanitis, the vice president of the Irish Culture Club, said the partnership came naturally.

“I think that’s the nature of our clubs here on campus,” he said. “Our school’s very environmentally focused.”