Andrew Mullen
Art & Entertainment Editor
There is no reason or excuse for senseless vandalism. Not to sound like a crotchety old man, but the seemingly constant stream of utterly random objects being crushed, broken, destroyed, shattered or generally mistreated is pretty pathetic and needs to stop.
We as a student body live on this campus. We pay to be here, or our parents pay for us to be here, so why destroy our environment? There is no reason to do so I promise, upon breaking a lamppost down a leprechaun will not spring from the Village IV woods and congratulate you with a pot of gold and a diploma. You will just have a sore foot and a hangover. It is not only the lampposts though. There seems to be a rash of bad Hulk impersonators here at Virginia Wesleyan, because the amount of holes punched into walls is beyond the point of sad comedy. What mental process makes that a sensible thing to do?
My freshman year, back in 2011, I lived in Kellam Hall. Kellam was a nice place with lounges inside and hang out spots outside, sans hammocks. However, there was a massive amount of vandalism. Quite literally every single night, which ended up racking a huge bill on the student accounts for every single person in the hall. When nobody comes forward and claims that they ripped down a banner or put a hole through the bathroom wall, the school charges everybody they deem possibly responsible. Due to students vandalizing everything in sight, the unaccountable students are being billed.
What has really stuck out in my recent memory is the vandalism of trees, those poor defenseless trees. They aren’t even adult trees, they are mere babies, and they line the walk way to Village IV. I have seen them uprooted, snapped in half, littered all over, branches broken and their metal supports bent and twisted. Saplings. That is like killing a child. What could possibly be cause for destroying anything, let alone a tree?
Vandalism, just like any crime, is not in the slightest bit funny or cute, and needs to stop. There should be a certain level of respect shown to the area in which we live. Ever since my freshman year, this level has been diluted and forgotten about. As a community, let us strive to change this.
