Vandalism of Berlin Wall found not political, malicious

After a July vandalism to Chapman’s piece of the Berlin Wall, Orange Police Department and Public Safety launched an investigation to find the suspect, determining by the nature of the crime that it had no specific political motivation.

The bottom-half of the Berlin wall was vandalized sometime between July 21 and July 22. Chapman staff are working to find a vendor to apply a new protective coating to the artifact.  Sam Andrus PHOTO EDITOR

In Chapman’s Liberty Plaza, where a monument in the middle of campus boasts one of the few remaining graffitied pieces of the Berlin Wall, there is a meticulously trimmed row of hedges and green grass. Surrounding them is a ring of trees sporting cherry-pink blossoms that leisurely drift onto the surface of a crystal-clear pool of water below.

Yet despite the monument’s significant physical features, time may show that its most important installation was a simple protective screen shielding the piece of the wall itself from any additional graffiti. 

Sometime between July 21 and July 22 at 11 a.m., the artifact was vandalized. Approximately half of its front side was covered in a layer of brown paint, paving over the artifact’s original graffiti. 

“When we did get the wall, we anticipated that something like this might happen,” said Chapman President Emeritus Jim Doti. 

When he first received the image of the painted wall, Doti – who, over 20 years earlier, worked for four weeks to coordinate the artifact’s transportation from Berlin, Germany, to Chapman – thought the vandalism could have been motivated by a widespread United States movement to renovate or destroy controversial historical statues. Yet, as he further examined the situation, he realized that was unlikely. 

“It looked like somebody took a roller and painted over it rather than maybe putting their own graffiti on it,” Doti told The Panther. “It would’ve made a lot more sense if someone vandalized it by putting graffiti over graffiti … Painting over it was totally irrational.” 

The Orange Police Department (OPD) and Chapman Public Safety launched an investigation to identify the perpetrator. OPD Sergeant Phil McMullin affirmed he didn’t believe it was a personal attack against the artifact or related to the recent string of campus vandalizations by white supremacy groups.

“It’s not the normal kind of vandalism where someone’s doing graffiti,” McMullin said. “It appears more that it was done with a (paint) roller, possibly done by someone … who may not have known what that wall was or represented.” 

On July 23, Public Safety discovered bits of broken granite and a couple of the letters pried up from the concrete in the Global Citizens Plaza. After piecing together camera footage to identify a physical description, a female suspect was found at the Orange Public Library July 25 and arrested after police found the removed letters in her backpack. The suspect appeared to be confused and in distress, Chief of Public Safety Randy Burba told The Panther.

He theorized the perpetrator could have also been the same to vandalize the Berlin Wall, due to how close the incidents were to one another. However, as of Aug. 5, Burba said OPD does not have a confession or sufficient evidence to press charges at this time.

Plans are underway to restore the wall to its original state, and given the foresight taken by administration during the monument’s original installation, that appears to be a fairly simple process. Rick Turner, Vice President of Facilities Management, told The Panther that preliminary testing revealed warm water could lift the paint without damaging the wall’s original graffiti. Additionally, Turner’s team is working to find a vendor to apply a protective coating process to the artifact to prevent future incidents. 

President Daniele Struppa said the fact that there was no discernable malicious intent behind the vandalism gave him a sense of comfort, a sentiment echoed by Doti. However, Chapman administration is still disappointed to see such a prominent symbol disfigured. As the pioneer of the 8,000-pound monument’s place on campus, Doti was particularly saddened, considering the message behind its installation. 

“The wall is a wall of graffiti, it’s where people – young people particularly – expressed their views about being in East Berlin and not able to freely cross over to the other half of the city,” Doti said. “The community has come to the understanding that (our) Berlin Wall is a symbol of freedom.”