Tacky Art

Graffiti has been around since before the world had color. Signs of these irritating designs have been spotted by almost everyone. They sneak up on you at the most unexpected times and appear in the most impossible places (like seriously, how can someone tag the side of an overpass?).

I was under the impression that when people entered college they grew up a little, but a few weeks ago, I was smacked in the face with being dead wrong.

I went down to my North Quad building’s wash room to do some laundry. My friend was joining me in washing her clothes and we both came upon something quite disturbing. There, in the laundry room, of all places, was graffiti. The word “zoose” was mocking me with its vivid red color. I mean, the laundry room? How on earth is that necessary? My friend and I were furious. After about half an hour of us trying to bleach the tag away, we waved our flag in bitter defeat.

I looked up the word “zoose,” and dictionary.com had no definition for this word. I continued to look it up in urbandictionary.com, and the definition given was “tramp.” So now I am confused–is this person calling themselves a tramp? In a laundry room? I still cannot fathom what the upside was to it.

I asked the California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Police Department about graffiti on campus and Sgt. Stacie Russo kindly answered my questions. Apparently there are 30-40 cases of graffiti reported throughout the year. Now I know this may not seem like a lot, but with a campus as small as ours, the numbers should be smaller. When the graffiti is reported, the officer attempts to take off the graffiti themselves, but if they cannot a work order is turned in and the Facilities department cleans or paints over it.

Sgt. Russo also stated that vandalism is defined as defacing property with graffiti or any other inscribed material. If it damages or destroys something that is not your own–it’s vandalism. End of story. I know there are some artists out there who like to paint murals on old buildings and think it is okay, but if they want that to happen they should get permission. Just because it is an abandoned building does not mean that everyone can run up to it and paint whatever comes to mind.

Now do not get me wrong, I love the art on the walls along Inter-Garrison. I think it is absolutely beautiful, but if that is to be done on someone else’s property then I do not think it is right. If permission is sought and given, then the art can be created and the experience enjoyed by everyone, otherwise, it takes up a lot of time and money for people to fix. “Graffiti is a constant problem that uses up resources from a variety of departments to rectify each problem...All of this is a cost to the University, when the officer’s time and the Facilities employees time could be better allocated to other job duties,” said Sgt. Russo.

I can understand middle and high school kids defacing property but college students? Really? I thought we had moved past the rebel stage. Students pay around 16,000 dollars a year to attend here and live on campus, and you would think since we pay that much we would all want to take care of it. I do not really want a building that I pay thousands of dollars for to have graffiti all over it, and I am sure other students would agree. “Graffiti left in place only invites others to continue to damage and destroy the surrounding areas,” said Sgt. Russo. We are supposed to be here to receive a higher education, so I think it is time that CSUMB students start acting like it.