Why do some Loyola students feel the need to graffiti our Residence Halls?
Graffiti has plagued the Biever Hall elevators for the past few months. The inscriptions began in the elevators but soon spread to hallways, bathrooms, kitchens and bulletin boards on various floors. “Kysor” and “Sako” are some of the most recurring tags. But why do they do it?
Perhaps it is because students feel a need to artistically express themselves. No, that can’t be it, considering Loyola has numerous outlets for artists to display their original work. There are galleries in the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library, Danna Student Center and Communications/Music Complex.
Maybe these people feel compelled to rebel or want acceptance from their rebellious friends. But is the destruction of public property necessary to prove a point? Not in my book.
Another possibility is that these graffiti tags are a territorial thing where one tagger must outdo the other. Perhaps this is an act similar to a dog marking a tree with his urine. I guess student graffiti is better than student urine, though. Imagine the news headline on that one: “University students revert to dog-like tendencies.”
I have heard the concept that graffiti is a means of communication. People from various cultures and time periods throughout history have found ways to communicate through art, dating back to the cavemen who marked symbols and basic pictures on cave walls in order to communicate.
But could the infamous graffiti taggers like “Kysor” and “Sako” of Biever Hall really be thriving artists looking to communicate? I think not. If these taggers had something truly powerful, significant or valuable to say, then they would find a better means of expressing it.
The mystery continues as to why these tags keep showing up. Students and faculty have not been able to identify the guilty students. Residential Life continues the never-ending battle against Biever graffiti.
Meanwhile, innocent students like myself are forced to bear the repercussions. One morning the elevators are clean, and the next morning an entire slew of clueless students are charged with damage and cleaning fees.
The Biever Hall elevator taggings mean nothing more to its residents than another fee charged to our accounts. We no longer have an interest in what the graffiti tags mean. Rather, we want to know why they keep coming back.
Biever staff has taken only minor action to stop the unidentified culprits. Flyers posted in the elevators and on hall doors report the numerous fees. But they’ve raised no other awareness. Campus police are not involved, and no investigation is in place.
And so the saga continues. Students are left to be the chief investigators here. We could use a little help from old Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson at a time like this.
On behalf of these fictional sleuths and the Loyola student body, I’d like to communicate to these mysterious elevator taggers the following: No one wants to pay for your personal expressions any more — not in the elevators, not in the bathrooms, not anywhere in the residence halls. To Kysor, Sako and all other taggers: Let’s embrace the true spirit of a Jesuit institution and stop defacing public property.
Janece Bell is a theatre arts freshman. She can be reached at [email protected].
