I, like many of you, am an avid Facebook user. Whenever I am at my computer and homework does not call (and sometimes even when it does), I am posting on walls, poking random people, and reading the news feed. One interesting news feed message scrolled onto my screen last weekend. A friend of mine had joined a group called “Is It Art?” I was of course curious, and I took a look at the group’s page. I was met with a logo that was omnipresent the last few weeks on campus, a “thumbs-up” surrounded by a circle. This group was responsible for the recent vandalism on campus, including the defacing of one of the residence halls on the Quad. The fact that my fellow students were condoning crime and the aesthetic destruction of our beautiful campus seriously concerned me.

Like all fun-loving people, I enjoy a good laugh from time to time. If I see a sign that catches my eye, I’ll pause and take a peek. I love clever displays of artistic talent. Signs and posters are a great legal way to get people’s attention, and anyone on campus is allowed to post them, according to the Institute’s Sign Policy in the Student Handbook of Rights and Responsibilities. But when catching people’s eye and “brightening their day” is brought about by vandalizing and defacing private property, that is a whole other story. The Department of Public Safetu caught on and with the help of the Troy Police Department, the students who were doing these acts were caught. Now I see that there is a group on Facebook selling t-shirts with this thumbs-up logo, where the profits don’t go to a charity, or an art endowment, or to a fund to promote legal art on campus. The profits go straight to the people who committed the crimes (whether you enjoy the art or not, it is a crime) to pay for legal fees, or who knows, maybe even more paint.

Yes, the CII/DCC walkway is a bit boring: I’m all for artistic displays on campus, but this is just not the right way to do it. To satisfy students’ needs to express themselves, I would like to see a place on campus where all of the artistic energy of RPI’s student body can be expressed. Maybe EMPAC will be such a place. Only time will tell.

Corey Stall