Residents’ furniture broken: $3,600. Vandalized signs and sign poles: $2,600. Smashed big-screen TV: $2,000. Damaged light poles by the lake: $1,200. Broken windows in Brian, Milner, English, and Binford. Chairs thrown out of windows and over railings in Milner and Brian. Dressers rolled down stairs. Half of the new Milner patio furniture ruined. Garbage cans poured out over railings. Mark Miller, Director of Maintenance, has been working at Guilford for 17 years, and has noticed a sizeable increase in vandalism this semester. He esimated that the amount of money spent because of vandalism has increased 20-25% over last spring. The rise in property damage, in light of campus- wide budget problems, has The Office of Residential Life and Physical Plant staff worried.

Concerning the possible effects of the costly repairs of vandalism, Miller said, “The more vandalizing and the more we have to pay for damages, the more students will have to pay to come here. The more money we spend on repairs the less we have to spend on infrastructure.”

It is not only student fees and dwindling funds that could be affected by vandalism. Budget tightening has caused staff cut-backs in housekeeping, security, and maintenance, leaving Physical Plant staff in a tough place in dealing with rising incidents of destructive behavior on campus.

Miller does not know why this increase in campus vandalism has occurred. Residential life and maintenance workers speculate that it may be a form of retaliation against the controversial alcohol policy, or a byproduct of the trauma that resulted from the tragic events of Sept. 11. Because much of the damage occurs on weekends and late at night, student inebriation is a plausible reason for some of the destructive behavior.

Junior Lizzy Gillespie doubts that the increase in vandalism is a student reaction to the alcohol policy or the events of Sept. 11. Gillespie said, “Maybe the college should consider the increase in enrollment as a logical contributor to vandalism, especially if budget cuts have decreased security. Hmmm…more students, less security, more vandalism.”

Joanne Toby, Director of Residential Life, made the following plea to students: “Vandalism costs the school time and money that could be spent in more positive ways in the community. This is your college and I would hope you would take pride in that and not damage things maliciously and maybe that money would come back to you.”

However, not all incidents of destruction have been malicious. Physical plant staff believe that some of the issues can be solved with awareness and preventative forethought.

Leaving doors propped and allowing strangers into residential halls creates openings for theft and vandalism by non-campus members, according to John Jenkins, Associate CFO for Facilities. The attempted theft and ruin of a big screen TV from English Hall on Oct. 28, and another similar attempt the following Monday, resulted from an unknown person gaining access to the building.

There has also been $20,000 worth of damage to marble and columns on the steps at Dana. According to maintenance, this damage is a result of skateboarding.

In response to the increase in destruction to property around campus, Mark Miller is asking two things of the community. First, please respect the college property and each other’s property. Second, if you see someone destroying property that does not belong to them, ask them to stop, and if they don’t, immediately contact security to handle the situation.

Miller states that he is open to any suggestions on how to deal with the issue of vandalism on campus. He asks that any students or staff with concerns or suggestions to contact him at extension 2898.