By Elizabeth Childers
Online Editor
This weekend, an alumnus and I were walking around Stuyvescent Hall. He had not seen the new building since its renovations occurred after his graduation and wanted to see the changes made.
He was pleasantly surprised by the new flooring, fireplaces and lobby settings. And as we entered the courtyard, he happily pointed out how beautiful it was with its new staircase and sitting area. He was also happy to see the new fountain running.
âIt was just a big hole in the ground when I was here,â he explained to me and another student.
However, as we got closer, we noticed that one of the three frogs of the fountain was not on the perimeter with its brethren, but instead had decided to take a dip in the water. Or rather, it was involuntarily thrown in.
This is not the only report on vandalism weâve had on campus, though it is arguably the saddest. This is, for all intents and purposes, a new building. The university spent a lot of money and a lot of man-hours in creating a nicer place to live for the students. This yearâs freshmen donât know the world of exploding heaters, lack of air conditioning and subpar appliances. It is reasonable to say OWU has given the building a new facelift. So isnât it a blatant insult to the university that students have the audacity to ruin the work that has been done, for no real reason?
Stuy isnât the only building thatâs been victimized. Smithâs residents have wracked up quite a debt, between $35-40, because of bulletin boards being ripped off the walls and other such shows of immature idiocy. And, I donât know the whole story about this, but Sunday morning I noticed a shutter on one of the fraternity houses hanging haphazardly as it had been ripped from the buildingâs façade. Even the Delt house is looking more abandoned than ever, since someone broke a window on the basement floor and a plywood board has covered it.
Even personal property is not protected on the streets of OWU. Stories of students having their side-view mirrors damaged and bikes being stolen or molested have been heard through the student grapevine.
Students donât seem to have much respect for anyone or anything on campus, save their own things. Iâm not sure what youâve been taught, but how much destruction done does not give you a measurement how great the night before was.
I know most of you who are committing these acts of violence wonât be reading this, so I canât say, âshame on you!â and expect you to hear it. Perhaps some of you donât even remember doing the things Iâve listed.
So let me just say the amount of vandalism, and with it the astounding lack of respect we see on this university, is unacceptable for âyoung adults.â