As you’ve probably heard (and can read about in this very issue), the class wall mural was vandalized last weekend. The graduating class’s slogan, “FI3RCE Class of 2013,” was altered ever-so-maturely to read “FART ass.” We at The Campanil have felt the community’s reaction, and share some of the emotions students and alum have expressed.
We at The Campanil are at once stifling our laughter and shaking our heads. Painting the senior wall is one of a few traditions seniors get to take part in, and we’re sure that after years of seeing the wall painted by other classes, the 2013 graduates were excited to leave their own mark. As one Campanil editor put it, it’s like discovering your little brother destroyed that t-shirt from 8th grade that all your classmates signed at graduation. Even though it’s not big deal, it’s sad to know those memories went to waste.
On the other hand, we at The Campanil realize this petty paint job is fairly minor as far as acts of vandalism go. While we respect the wall and can’t quite comprehend why someone would destroy a precious memory, we all felt that this wasn’t worth being outraged over, mostly because of the immature and inane choice of words. Fart ass? Really? We at The Campanil felt that in making such a large statement as painting over the class wall, an act that admittedly took stealth and pluck, one should actually have a message or reason for doing so. Fart ass doesn’t exactly ignite controversy. What, we ask, are we supposed to take away from this message?
In the end, most of us took nothing away. What momentarily provoked a gut-reaction laugh has morphed into a palm-to-forhead feeling. If this elementary humor and light-hearted destruction of school property showcases the caliber of students at Mills, we can’t help but be a little worried.
On the one hand, we applaud the vandals for sparking so much emotion and discussion on an often sleepy campus. But in the end, we ask simply: why? Why now? Why this class? And why, really, why Fart ass?
Read the related articles about the recent wall vandalism:
