Vandalism hits campus

By Jaclyn Ruiz

A white wall, a newly painted fence, a sidewalk or even a phone booth are all inviting canvases for local vandals. Recently, the carefully manicured campus of Santa Clara has become an inviting target as well.

In the past three months there have been at least nine cases of vandalism reported on the Santa Clara campus. All nine cases were executed with a black felt-tip marker, which leads Campus Safety Officer Phil Beltran to believe Santa Clara has been hit by a vandal.

"In the last year we've noticed a slight increase in graffiti. Sometimes we'll get bunches of them in a weekend," Beltran said.

Campus Safety says some vandals choose to write a name, a traditional way to claim their territory. Seven of the nine images were very small, no bigger than a square foot.

"Much of the time graffiti artists use cans of spray paint but this person chose to use a marker, a more low scale instrument," said Beltran.

Beltran says Santa Clara may have been struck by a group of wannabes, who love to see their work displayed for mass audiences, attempting to claim a smaller area as their own. He says Santa Clara is a relatively open campus with many possible targets, which provides an easy way to get away similar crimes.

Campus Safety has not identified any suspects.

"The key is to immediately remove it within 24 hours," said Beltran. "This way we send the message to future strikers that this is unacceptable."

Among the locations hit were the Buck Shaw stadium fence, the Benson Center loading dock, electrical boxes in Alameda South, and the University Finance Office, as well as the Leavey pool.

Since a majority of the locations struck are on the exterior of campus, officials say there is reason to believe students are not suspects.

So far, seven of the nine cases were found by campus safety officers while patrolling the campus at night and were removed before students ever had the chance to see them. But keeping the campus graffiti free is not cheap.

Santa Clara facilities has been handling the situation by hiring a painter at $50 an hour to paint over the graffiti.

Though cleanup isn't cheap, Facilities Director Jeff Charles isn't concerned about the recent cases. He says there is usually an increase in vandalism when students come back to school.

"There are a few people who drink too much and do their thing," Charles said.

Campus safety ordinarily passes on information about such crimes to the Santa Clara Police Department for investigation.

Santa Clara police are investigating the vandalism.