2008 Woodie Awards
V for vandalism
Graffiti defaces Samford's campus
Sarah Kate Boltz and Andrew Westover
Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
"The vandalism is pretty much confined to the University Center and to the western part of campus," Chief of Police Bobby Breed said.
However, students saw the symbols in other places including: Divinity North, the ScienCenter, on sidewalks behind Pittman Hall and outside Seibert Gym, on various stop and street signs, behind the Nursing building, on a porta potty in west campus and even on the new Pete Hanna Center.
Across campus, students debated the identity of the person(s) behind the vandalism.
"On Monday, I heard lots of people saying that it was a Latino gang who spray painted the symbols," Joseph Echols, junior business management major, said.
Other students believe that this act is tied to a single person, rather than a particular group.
"I think it's just one person because it seems like an act of individual expression against the greater collective," Paul Sloderbeck, junior international relations and Spanish major, said.
A group of students walking to the University center were the first to alert Campus Safety of the symbols when they spotted one on the door of Divinity North.
After seeing a second symbol, the students called in with another. Members of Campus Safety showed up outside the University Center with a Polaroid camera.
"When we asked them if they knew anything about the symbols, one officer responded that he had seen it before and thought it was some sort of Latino gang symbol," junior biology major Molly Braswell, who was one of the first to see the symbols, said.
Later that night, the students googled the symbol and found that it originated from the movie "V for Vendetta."
They notified Campus Safety, who had not yet come to a conclusion of its meaning.
Most students agree that the symbol refers to the 2005 movie "V for Vendetta." The movie is set in the future with London ruled by a totalitarian regime. The main character, "V," pursues freedom from government oppression and his own personal battle.