Some members of the University community have something to say, but they don’t use spoken words to say it.
These renegades of free speech use graffiti to express their ideas rather than yelling in Free Speech Alley.
On desktops, bathroom stall walls and some exterior building walls around and near campus, culprits have crafted a plethora of graffiti messages for passersby to read and ponder.
Students see these messages daily. Some find them entertaining while others see them as a nuisance.
But students are not the only campus group affected by graffiti.
For the Custodial Services staff, graffiti is more than just profound sayings and funny drawings. It means more work.
Custodial workers must tackle the difficult and sometimes impossible task of cleaning up others’ free speech. They often must make the choice between removing messages written with irremovable substances or ruining the surface of some furniture.
Bob Dillemuth, Custodial Services manger, said graffiti is an ongoing problem for his workers.
“The time and money spent cleaning could be spent enhancing classrooms and academic areas,” Dillemuth said.
Dillemuth said campus graffiti is of “lower quality” than he has seen elsewhere. Though he discourages students from vandalizing University property, he suggested some better graffiti.
“Something with a little intellectual content,” he said. “Not just the size of your body organs.”
The worst problem Dillemuth has with graffiti is what he said are offensive comments about women and minorities.
Dillemuth said many of the custodial workers who must clean up offensive messages actually are women and minorities, which makes the fact that they have to remove vandalism even worse.
“The humor is often sexist or racist,” he said. “It’s extremely degrading and demoralizing.”
Ryan Salvesen, a linguistics freshman, dislikes the campus graffiti he sees.
“It’s defacing the school,” he said.
Dillemuth said Middleton Library is one of the buildings with the most “decorated” furniture.
Students who intend to sit and study in one of the library’s niches can be distracted by the melee of messages covering public desks.
An anonymous desk artist drew an ichthus – the Greek word for fish and a symbol for Christianity – with legs and “Darwin” written inside it. A larger fish with “Jesus” written inside it swallows the evolved ichthus.
“Stop depending on the fictional Jesus for answers,” advises another anonymous writer. “Quit being so scared of the world around you.”
The graffiti doesn’t stop there. Desks become message boards for everything from religious and philosophical contemplation to homages to Greek organizations and professional wrestling.
Salvesen described graffiti about Greek organizations – such as Kappa Delta sorority’s letters drawn on a library study desk – as “territorial.” He said he calls it territorial because it’s nothing more than an organization marking a piece of campus as its own.
“Those people need to grow up,” he said.
Salvesen said writing or drawing graffiti is pointless because no one cares what an anonymous writer or artist says.
“Who’s going to take seriously what’s on a bathroom wall?” he asked. “They need to find a better outlet to communicate their ideas.”
Few students would admit to drawing or writing graffiti.
One of the few who would discuss any “artistic” expression was Tammy Breaux, an anthropology senior.
“The only thing I’ve ever done is respond to a question on the back of a desk,” she said. “The teacher had her back to me.”
Breaux said she cannot remember what the question or her answer was. She said she was bored during Spanish class and wrote on the desk while her teacher’s back was turned.
Chad Bergeron, a computer science junior, said many desks in Dodson Auditorium have funny messages on them.
“That back stretch [of desks] is entertaining,” he said. “That’s the only reason I went to class sometimes.”
Though graffiti is vandalism, it has not stopped students from expressing their thoughts.
Pierre Toussaint, an accounting senior and resident adviser in Kirby Smith, said he has not seen many graffiti incidents in his dorm.
The few incidents he has seen have been in bathroom stalls.
“I guess it’s to relieve tension,” he said.
Other campus messages employing what the online Dictionary of Art defines as “communicative strategy” range from lighthearted praises of Tiger football and proclamations of love to ethical dilemmas and statements against organized religion.
Stephanos Christofi, an international trade and finance junior, said he favors graffiti messages.
“I don’t mind,” he said. “It’s a way to express thought and opinions.”
Christofi said he does not consider drawing on desks a crime.
“I don’t think it’s vandalism,” he said. “I wouldn’t judge it so hard.”