Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/24/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Seth Anderson From left to right:?A drinking fountain in Wells Hall broke off the wall. A wolf was stenciled on the door of the log cabin near the University Center. The letter 'J' was removed from the Timothy J. Hyland Hall sign facing Starin Street. Vandalism on campus has increased compared to the same time last year.

Vandalism on campus is up slightly this year, though likely is underreported.

Seventeen incidents were reported so far this year, compared to 11 at the same time last year.

"It depends on how you want to view it," University Police Chief Matt Kiederlen said. "[Seventeen incidents] doesn't seem too horrendous, but realistically, percentage increase-wise, that's like 45 percent."

In the past week, someone stenciled seemingly random objects onto university buildings, including a wolf on the door of the historic log cabin and a piece of cake on Carlson Hall.

As amusing as that may seem, Kiederlen said vandalism is not a victimless crime.

"[No incident is] minor, because somebody has to pay for it, but we see things like garbage cans being tipped over and lids broken and things of that nature, not so much damage to vehicles and things like that," he said. "We're not seeing increases there; we're seeing increases in the silly stuff that people do."

Kiederlen said a vandalism charge could be anything from tearing up a poster to breaking windows, and they all fall under the same category.

Other recent incidents include damage to air conditioning units at McCutchan Hall and tires on the University Police Department's squad cars being slashed.

"I think we're still seeing the same type of thing that we have before, with the exception of the air conditioners … and with our tires being slashed," Kiederlen said. "Those two are pretty significant incidents, really.

"Fortunately, nothing horrendous happened with either one of them," he said. "I understand where someone would think when they're drunk that that's funny, but what they don't understand is the overall implication and possible dangers of the action that they took."

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