Tagging on campus isn’t a new issue, but the Student Services building has had several reports of tagging this semester.
The amount of graffiti on campus varies, according to Sgt. Chris Counts of campus security. “There’s sometimes a spurt of it. We sometimes go a month without a report. It just goes through phases,” Counts said. Tim Bohan, department chair of academic development, has noticed an increase in tagging in the stairwells of the Student Services building and asked his students to keep an eye out for taggers as they enter through the stairwells to their classes or the learning center.
According to Bohan, level two has been a heavy targeted area for taggers. Bohan also noted that tagging in general has gotten worse in the past year. “It’s all over the restrooms, sometimes on desks and on soda machines,” said Bohan.
“It’s always on the stairwells because they can get away with it easier,” said Wanda Boardman, department assistant of academic development. “Occasionally on a desk, but not usually out in the open where someone can be watching.”
Boardman also noticed that tagging happens mostly in the morning. It’s uncertain if the taggers are enrolled students or not. According to Counts, “all the ones we’ve caught have been students.”
Wanda Boardman recognizes tagging as an act of expression, but wants them to express themselves on their own property. “Do it on your car or your own stuff instead of private property,” said Boardman.
Tim Bohan believes the tagging to be a turf war. “It’s a sort of territorial thing. And if we don’t clean it up, they’ll start writing over each other.”
BC’s current approach to lessen the problem is to clean it up as fast as possible in hopes of discouraging them from continuing to tag. “Taggers want it to stay up and be displayed, so we try to have it cleaned up as soon as it’s reported,” Bohan said.
Due to numerous reports to maintenance and operations to clean the student service’s stairwells, the paint peels. Because cleaning off the graffiti removes the paint, a work order to get the stairwells repainted will be sent in.
According to Bohan there’s really no solution. “There are ways of catching them, but it’s time consuming. Campus security is too busy,” Bohan said.
While some taggers have gotten away with defacing school property, some have been caught. In the past, taggers have been caught by comparison of handwriting or been caught walking out of a place that was known to be free of graffiti beforehand.
According to Bohan, campus security rejected the proposition of installing surveillance cameras due to heavy cost. On the other hand, Counts said, “if we install cameras, we wouldn’t tell if we’re doing it.”
Taggers don’t only face expulsion or being kicked off campus as consequence for their actions. “If we catch them, they will be arrested and charged through court,” said Counts.
Wanda Boardman doesn’t understand why students would risk their education.
“I don’t know why they’d chance their education. They should consider that they’ll harm themselves by getting expelled.”