Elevators fall prey to vandalism

Students in High Rise South have two new complaints about the aging and slow elevators in the building -- graffiti and the smell of wet paint. Over the last few weeks, various words, scrawls and names have been found written on the walls of the elevators. And each time, the Residential Maintenance workers have painted over the graffiti. According to Gordon Rickards, assistant director of residential safety, security and facilities, this is another example of residential vandalism that is currently costing the University $2,000 a week. Even though Residential Maintenance has been diligent about repainting the elevators' walls, vandals have gone so far as to scratch graffiti right into the wet paint. Students and administrators have expressed outrage about the ongoing problem, although they disagreed about how often it has occurred. According to Rickards, the vandalism most recently appeared last week and on Tuesday. But College sophomore Jeff Gerson said the problem has been occurring at least twice a week since late February. And College sophomore Lauren Askinazi said she thinks the elevator graffiti has occurred "almost every day." While students said they could not read most of the graffiti, Gerson said he could make out "Raiders" and "Pepper Boy." For example, on Tuesday night, maintenance employees repainted an elevator after new graffiti had been found in it. But as of Wednesday morning, "Raiders" was scratched into the paint, Gerson said. "By 11 a.m., it had been painted over again," he added. Rickards said water-based paint is being used to cover the graffiti, although eventually, he would like to see a tar-based paint which is more difficult to write on and carve. But Rickards added that the change in paint would be a long-term project. Constant painting in this case is costly in dollars and manpower that could be used elsewhere in the system. Director of Residential Living Gigi Simeone said she is concerned about the ongoing vandalism. "It is demoralizing for students to live in places where the residents in the community trash the place," she said. High Rise South residents said they think the graffiti is childish. "It's the stuff you see in grammar school," College sophomore John Capalbo said. "I thought we moved beyond that." Residential Living employee Richard Wagner, who works at the High Rise South front desk, said he could not understand why people were vandalizing the elevators. Although most students said they were unsure as to the vandal's motive, Wharton sophomore Christine Padlan offered one possibility. "Maybe they were drunk," she said. "I think it's stupid that people would do stuff like that." Rickards said the problems with the elevator walls will be part of the elevator overhaul scheduled to occur in the high rises over the next three years. The elevators in High Rise South are slated to be renovated this summer.