Campus vandalism to be a costly repair

The main staircase that runs through Commerce Plaza was vandalized with graffiti last Saturday night, disfiguring the recently renovated area. The stairs were repaired during the summer from damage caused years ago by a Pierce Transit bus crash, and reopened within the last few weeks.  

The stenciled and hand-drawn graffiti displays the logo and website of a local band and is clustered directly outside of Metro Coffee. The band the graffiti represents was contacted on Facebook by someone connected to Metro Coffee and in an online comment have denied involvement and offered to “see how we can go about helping to remove it.”

“I call it disgraceful,” said Husky Sarah Frances about the vandalism. “It’s just rude and doesn’t represent what UWT should represent.”

Because black paint was used on concrete and brick, it will be difficult to remove and will cost an early estimate of more than $1500, said Director of Campus Safety & Security Susan Wagshul-Golden. “A police report was filed because of the extent [of the damages],” Wagshul-Golden said last week, “Twenty-nine stencils were used.”

However, Stanley Joshua, Director of Facilities Services, said that an official cost will not be known until after the removal is completed. Joshua said in an email that although vandalism “similar to this incident on campus is rare,” different kinds of “graffiti and tagging are common and when they do occur, they are photographed, reported to police and removed as soon as possible.”

Campus Facilities Services has assigned the graffiti removal case to a staff member, but is currently unsure of a timeline for the cleanup process.