Graffiti controversy

By: Allison Collins

Posted: 11/13/09

Black tape spelling out "ethnically diverse my ass" was discovered on a wall near Stonewall Terrace IV on Nov. 3.

When Public Safety officers arrived at the scene, the end of the message had been removed, leaving only "ethnically diverse" on the wall.

Photographs, however, show the full message spelled out on the wall.

Director of Public Safety, John Blessing, wrote in an e-mail interview on Nov. 4 that the graffiti said "ethnically diverse."

"It was later learned that the graffiti included the two additional words … which were removed by unknown person(s) prior to the arrival of Public Safety," Blessing said.

Despite the graffiti's message, the university is not considering it as a bias incident because "there is no information that it was directed at anyone, nor does it indicate bias of a group or persons based on their race, religion, ethnicity/national origin, gender or sexual orientation," said Kathleen McMahon, Dean of Students and co-chair of the Bias Incident Response Team.

Even after the administration saw the full message, the graffiti was not considered "biased."

"It's not a bias incident either way, it's just a really angry complaint that was made public," McMahon said.

"Whether it's a bias incident or not, it has an impact on the community," McMahon said.

"If further information comes to our attention we will certainly take that into consideration," McMahon said.

"The picture of the incident is pretty clear, the question is who did it," McMahon said.

Public Safety, which was responsible for removing the tape from the wall, is investigating the incident, Blessing said.

Blessing said the act was not captured on security cameras.

"Who wrote the message is unknown," McMahon said.

"Any graffiti incident on campus is treated as serious," Blessing said.

Those with additional information are urged to call Public Safety at Ex. 3611.