Vandalism in Keeney Quadrangle has cost the University more than $10,000 so far this academic year.
The vandalism prompted a stern e-mail to all Keeney residents Wednesday from Russell Carey '91 MA'06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, and Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president of campus life and dean for student life.
"Over the past two weeks there have been a number of incidents of vandalism in different areas of Keeney," Carey and Klawunn wrote in the e-mail. "We are also concerned about the overall number of incidents of vandalism, violence and disruptive behavior related to alcohol in Keeney."
"To date this academic year the damage caused by vandalism in Keeney alone has exceeded $10,000," Carey and Klawunn wrote.
The e-mail to Keeney residents referred to two specific incidents of vandalism in the last two weeks. In one incident, bathroom stall walls were removed from a Poland House bathroom and left in a hallway. "The Office of Student Life is following up on the Poland bathroom vandalism incident with judicial action," Carey and Klawunn wrote.
More recently, tiles in Archibald House were ripped from the ceiling. "There is no information yet about who is responsible although we have asked for your cooperation in identifying those who might have caused this damage," the administrators wrote.
"I think they signal in a big way that somebody or some group has not respected the space of other people," Klawunn told The Herald. "Nobody likes to go into a bathroom, and certainly not if it's been ripped up. ... But even to go in and see that somebody has vomited in the showers, which is one that I keep hearing about, no one wants to go in and have to live in that."
Klawunn said the vandalism is part of student life officials' broader concerns about Keeney.
"If we look across the campus, larger incidents that are significant community disruptions ... including sexual assaults, bias incidents and fights, as well as vandalism that happens on a more regular basis, a number for those incidents have occurred in and around Keeney Quad this year," Klawunn said.
"We have tried to target the problem in a bunch of different ways so that people get the feeling that, 'It's my community and I don't want this to happen here,' " Klawunn said.
In addition to sending an e-mail to all Keeney residents about the vandalism problem, University officials are addressing the issue in other University forums such as the Campus Life Advisory Board. Administrators are also trying to arrange extra funding for alcohol-free social events in Keeney.
Most Keeney residents interviewed by The Herald were not surprised by the $10,000 price tag for damage in Keeney.
"It surprised me when I first got here that (vandalism) would still happen at college," said Leslie Lipsick '10. "I am glad that they sent (the e-mail), but I don't know if the few individuals who are causing all the problems would stop just because of an e-mail."
