Campus vandalism on the decline

Benjamin Engle
Despite recent acts of violence at Wold House and Psi Upsilon, vandalism has been slowly declining across the Union campus.

According data provided by the Facilities Services Department, both the number of incidents and money spent to repair vandalism damages has fallen since the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

In 2004-2005, Facilities Services spent approximately $101,000 on vandalism repairs across the campus. However, vandalism expenses were down to $72,000 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Director of Facilities and Planning, Loren Rucinski believes that the most vandalism, which as defined in the Union College Handbook as the “intentional or reckless destruction of college or private property,” occurs in the independent residence halls, particularly the freshmen halls of Davidson, West, and Richmond, which have been subjected to students tearing posters, signs, and bulletin boards down.

However, Rucinski believes that drop in vandalism during the past four years is continuing: “In general, the vandalism has been decreasing over the past 4 years and this year so far looks like it will be below [previous years], which would be great.”

Rucinski credits the active work of the Residential Life staff for the decrease in the number of vandalism reports in the independent housing on campus.

“I think that Residence Life has been doing a good job trying to get the message across with appropriate billing,” Rucinski added.

Joe Melendez, Residence Director of Davidson and Webster Halls, believes that vandalism has a rollercoaster affect in the sense that it comes in waves. According to Melendez, in addition to bulletin boards, ceiling tiles, exit signs, walls, and hallway lights are primary targets of vandalism in residence halls.

In order to prevent these types of crimes, Melendez and the rest of the residential life staff continually work to build a positive community and inform their respective communities of the consequences associated with destruction of property.

Matt Goodrich, a Resident Advisor in Davidson Hall used a unique strategy to combat vandalism and destructive actions on his floor after a weekend that resulted in the destruction of numerous ceiling tiles as well as the bulletin board. Instead of listing the ways the college tries to prevent vandalism, Goodrich asked his residents to write on the bulletin board ways to “keep the floor clean.”

Michael Jacobson (’12), resident of Goodrich’s floor, believes that the bulletin board was effective in reducing the violent acts of vandalism on his floor, “Matt works hard to build a tight-knit community and it is a direct insult to him when people tear down his boards. It is frustrating to walk in the hallway after a Friday or Saturday night and see my home at Union destroyed, usually by people who don’t even live there.”

In addition to vandalism decreasing in the residence halls, Minerva Houses have seen significant decreases in acts of property destruction. The most recent act of destruction that has occurred, according to the Office of Minerva Programs, was the destruction of a ping-pong table in Wold House. Sometime during the middle of the night on a recent weekend, a group broke the legs of the table causing the playing surface to cave in. According to Benjamin Foster, Assistant Director of Minerva Programs, the group of individuals has not, and probably will not be caught.

However, according to Foster, vandalism in Minerva Houses is “incredibly sporadic” and is almost non-existent. When it does occur, vandalism is billed to the respective house’s operating budget.

Dean Tom McEvoy, Director of Minerva Programs, believes that for buildings that are approximately eight years old are in good shape for buildings on a typical college campus.
“I find that the nicer the building, the less students vandalize,” McEvoy explained.

However, according to Foster, the small amount of vandalism still affects residents, “Wold House residents were very upset. They felt violated and it takes away from the community.”

McEvoy also believes that vandalism is a direct insult to the custodians and trades people that have to clean up and fix the damages, but at same time students must remember that they are vandalizing their own homes, “Students need to be responsible for each other. Your home is the face you show to the world and people should behave in the way they would want others to behave in their house.”

As for the Psi Upsilon, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Timothy Dunn reports that the mural destruction is still under investigation, though in general most acts of vandalism occur during social events and are usually not done by the members of the particular house.

While eradicating vandalism from campus buildings is not an easy fix, Rucinski is encouraged by the improvement in the number of cases of vandalism, “It's an ongoing issue, probably like it is on other campuses, but so far we have been seeing a nice trend of improvement in that area.”

Originally published in Union's Concordy on February 19, 2009.