Student-created diversity bulletin board vandalized three times

A bulletin board promoting diversity and inclusion in Chapman Grand Apartments was vandalized for the third time this semester April 13. Photo courtesy of Residence Life and First Year Experience

In a quiet third-floor quadrant of Chapman Grand, a bulletin board promoting diversity, equity and inclusion was vandalized for the third time this semester on April 13, prompting students to question if the act was racially motivated.

Sarah Wilson, a junior English major and the student resident adviser created and put up the bulletin board March 12. The following weekend, terms posted on the board such as “unconscious bias” and “equity” were torn down. Wilson reposted the terms the following week during spring break, but they were removed again. The board was posted for a third time, with a different theme and messaging, yet was still vandalized.

Wilson declined The Panther’s request to comment. Dave Sundby, Chapman’s director of Residence Life and First Year Experience, explained in an email that this situation has been frustrating and emotionally taxing for Wilson. 

“It’s been frustrating and challenging for Sarah to have her work vandalized, and I don’t see a need to have her relive that in an interview setting,” Sundby wrote in an email to The Panther. 

The board was decorated with colorful characters, from the popular online video game “Among Us,” floating next to rainbow stars and a glittery, scalloped border. Jane Simonetti, a sophomore film production major, said the repeated vandalism wasn’t a random act.

“It can’t just be people being dumb if it's the same board about important topics and people are targeting it as opposed to other boards,” Simonetti said. “That's obviously hate-driven, which is childish in and of itself.”

Simonetti has been living in Chapman Grand the entire academic year. She explained that a weekly catalog of announcements is sent to Chapman Grand residents, and she felt upset when she read the vandalism occurred more than once. 

“Those of us that spend our time working where we live and living where we work, we take a lot of pride in the spaces that we oversee,” said Joseph Koluder, the assistant director of Residence Life.

Koluder also noted the incident isn’t the first time Chapman Grand has seen a series of vandalized bulletin boards.

In an email sent to Chapman Grand residents, the apartment complex’s staff highlighted that this vandalism was a targeted “Act of Harassment,” since the conduct by a student was persistent and impeded the ability of individuals to participate in or benefit from the services and activities promoted by the bulletin board. Based on this standard, the staff asserted the individuals who committed this act were denying the Chapman Grand community access to information that promotes diversity and inclusion. 

Chapman Grand and resident adviser staff have not determined who vandalized the diversity board, but are discussing the incidents and are reviewing appropriate steps to respond.