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A student who admitted involvement with vandalizing multiple residence hall signs along Dorm Road with profane words and pictures last week is awaiting review by the Student Disciplinary Committee.
The student was caught by the Department of Public Safety at about 3:20 a.m. on Jan. 10 walking between two dorms, according to Pepperdine’s Senior Public Relations Adviser Lyric Hassler. The student was not caught in the act of vandalism, but Hassler said the white male admitted to the act after questioning from Public Safety. The student was “cooperative” during questioning.
Freshman Kinsey Cronin saw the graffiti on the signs at about 4 a.m. while walking along Lower Dorm Road. She was returning from a late-night shift at the Howard A. White Center.
“I touched it and the paint was still wet,” Cronin said of the graffiti on the Crocker Hall sign. “There were pictures drawn on every one I walked by.”
Inappropriate words and drawings of images like genitalia were painted on the signs with white, latex-type paint, according to Cronin.
The student’s vandalism of school property, which included signs of approximately 14 residence halls, is a “serious offense,” Hassler said.
“There were some things that were written that were universally offensive,” she said. “There were some vulgarities and some obscenities.”
Assistant Director of Public Safety Dawn Emrich offered a statement on behalf of Public Safety’s involvement with the incident.
“The role of the Department of Public Safety in events like this is to respond to the immediate safety concerns, gather information, document the details and report it to the appropriate area for follow up,” Emrich said in an e-mail.
As the vandalism was discovered the night that it was conducted, Hassler said it is likely that the signs were wiped clean not long after the act. However, Cronin said traces of the incident were visible the following morning.
“I saw the signs on Upper Dorm Road the next morning, and you could see a white residue,” she said.
Cronin said she was surprised to find the graffiti, as it was an intentional defacement of school property.
“It just seems like people were trying to make sort of clever parodies of the hall names,” she said. “They wanted to make it sound similar to what the hall was, but I don’t think they put much thought into it. They were just sort of crude.”
According to Hassler, this is “an ongoing investigation.”
Though Hassler could not comment on what charges the student could face, the Student Disciplinary Board can offer minor educational and remedial sanctions to suspension and expulsion, according to each case.
Hassler would not comment on whether an incident of this nature has occurred at Pepperdine prior to this one.
Submitted 01-17-2008
MALIBU, CA
