2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Facilities regulates hate speech in Free Expression Tunnel
With the help of campus police, facilities locates inappropriate writing in tunnel and paints over it.
Zachary Moser-Katz
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
As part of an ongoing effort to monitor graffiti on campus, University facilities, under the guidance of the campus police, will often remove writing marked as hate speech that is found both inside and outside the Free Expression tunnel, according to facilities official David Hatch.
Hatch, assistant director of repair and renovations, said his department does three weekly checks of the campus for illegal graffiti and responds immediately to any requests from the campus police to remove unsightly material.
"The campus police will alert us to any hate crime issues within the tunnel," Hatch said. "We want to use the resources we have available to preserve the appearance of the campus and ensure student safety."
Jon Barnwell, captain of the campus police, explained that these messages are removed from the tunnel is to preserve the appearance of the school and allow for less seditious forms of expression.
"There is a blanket rule for facilities to remove any speech that is deemed as inciting harmful actions against a particular individual or demographic," Barnwell said. "The whole idea is to provide a space for freedom of expression and artistic ability, not to for the slandering of someone's name or the presentation of pornographic materials.
Hatch said it is hard to track down the perpetrators of these hate speech messages, but that he suspects they are coming from an off-campus source.
"We have had several cases where people come from off campus and spay inappropriate graffiti on campus," Hatch said. "When something is inappropriate and does apply as a hate crime we will immediately come in and fix it."
Facilities Maintenance Supervisor Sam Jeffries said he is the general manager of the repair and renovations trade shop and that his staff follows a standard protocol when hate speech is located inside the tunnel.
"If the graffiti is inside the tunnel and we are told by the campus police it is a hate crime we respond as quickly as possible," Jefferies said. "We typically will first take a photograph of the writing and mail it to campus police because they like to keep a record of these incidents."
Hatch, assistant director of repair and renovations, said his department does three weekly checks of the campus for illegal graffiti and responds immediately to any requests from the campus police to remove unsightly material.
"The campus police will alert us to any hate crime issues within the tunnel," Hatch said. "We want to use the resources we have available to preserve the appearance of the campus and ensure student safety."
Jon Barnwell, captain of the campus police, explained that these messages are removed from the tunnel is to preserve the appearance of the school and allow for less seditious forms of expression.
"There is a blanket rule for facilities to remove any speech that is deemed as inciting harmful actions against a particular individual or demographic," Barnwell said. "The whole idea is to provide a space for freedom of expression and artistic ability, not to for the slandering of someone's name or the presentation of pornographic materials.
Hatch said it is hard to track down the perpetrators of these hate speech messages, but that he suspects they are coming from an off-campus source.
"We have had several cases where people come from off campus and spay inappropriate graffiti on campus," Hatch said. "When something is inappropriate and does apply as a hate crime we will immediately come in and fix it."
Facilities Maintenance Supervisor Sam Jeffries said he is the general manager of the repair and renovations trade shop and that his staff follows a standard protocol when hate speech is located inside the tunnel.
"If the graffiti is inside the tunnel and we are told by the campus police it is a hate crime we respond as quickly as possible," Jefferies said. "We typically will first take a photograph of the writing and mail it to campus police because they like to keep a record of these incidents."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Jason
posted 10/05/07 @ 11:57 AM EST
I'm really at odds with this. But I don't believe that the university itself should be involved with censoring the tunnel. If people are offended with what others may write in the free expression tunnel then it should be the students who paint over it. (Continued…)
Kyle
posted 10/05/07 @ 12:03 PM EST
I agree with you Jason. I think that they're defeating the purpose of a Free Expression tunnel by monitoring what is written on it. If they're not going to let people have Free Expression then just get rid of the whole tunnel. (Continued…)
Post a Comment