After last week's announcement that the university might not honor the Class of 2000 gift, the rebuilding of a greenhouse once attached to Old Botany, some students took action.

At noon on Friday, about 100 students and alumni gathered in front of Old Botany to protest the university's handling of the class gift money.

"We were there because we think that it's wrong for Penn State to say that they're going to spend the money on a greenhouse and then not," said Leanne Macdonald (junior-comparative literature).

Paper hands were hung around the area, reading "Hands on Old Botany." Students played drums to attract attention and took turns signing letters addressed to the university and Graham Spanier.

"We just don't like the way that (the university) waited until everyone had graduated before telling them about the problem," Macdonald said.

The Class of 2000 had the opportunity to submit their own ideas for a class gift and voted for the Old Botany restoration project out of a total of eight projects.

The gift called for the re-building of a greenhouse that was once attached to Old Botany on Pollock Road. The greenhouse would be home to a Living Machine that would recycle water at the university so that it could be used again for irrigation and toilet purposes.

Old Botany, built in 1887, is the oldest unchanged academic building on campus.

"The Living Machine would be a way for people to see how wastewater can be treated," said Macdonald. "I think it would be a really good example of ecological things."

According to a letter that was circulating campus inviting people to the protest, the university has estimated the cost of the greenhouse and Living Machine at $530,000. The Class of 2000 raised about $140,000, and the university was given a gift of $150,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to complete the project, but at last estimate, the university is still a few hundred thousand dollars short.

"From what I understand," Macdonald said, "the Science, Technology and Society department doesn't know where Penn State got their estimates from, but they seem too high. A few hundred thousand dollars too high."

University officials are currently seeking alumni input as they decide the best way to use the money given by the Class of 2000.