Four political messages were found graffitied on Grinnell College’s sidewalks this past week. Three messages, which read “YOUR SILENCE IS KILLING YOU,” “FUCK THE USA” and “FREE PALESTINE” were found outside of entrances to the Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC). A final message saying “YOUR SILENCE IS KILLING US” was graffitied outside of Nollen House, which holds the office of Grinnell College’s President, Anne Harris.
According to Ellen de Graffenreid, vice president for communication and marketing, Campus Safety officers noticed the graffiti in front of the HSSC at 5:23 a.m. on Sept. 28 and located the graffiti in front of Nollen House at 7:19 p.m. of the same day. Campus Safety were conducting their regularly scheduled walk-through of each building when they located the graffiti.
De Graffenreid wrote in an email to The S&B that, while it is not known if the graffiti was done by a member of the Grinnell College community, it was reasonable to assume that the statement in front of Nollen House was directed towards College administration. According to the College’s Rules for Political Activity on Campus, the College cannot support partisan political activity. De Graffenreid wrote that since the incident did not directly impact members of the community or raise concerns about safety, the College would not be responding to the issue publicly.
“We have always welcomed dialogue with members of the community and would do so in this case as well,” she wrote.
Grinnell College’s Protest and Demonstration Policy, as found in the Student Handbook, affirms student expression in the form of protest, under the condition that “protests and/or demonstrations may not cause damage to persons or College property.” Since the use of spray-paint caused damage to Grinnell property, de Graffenreid said that responsible individuals, should they be students, could be held accountable for vandalism.
De Graffenreid wrote that Campus Safety is investigating and actively following up on this incident, and that James Shropshire, director of Campus Safety, would invite anyone with information on the graffiti to contact their office.
De Graffenreid also confirmed that Facility Management had received work orders to remove the graffiti from the sidewalks, and that, as of Oct. 1, they had been mostly successful.
