The destruction of property on DePauw's campus has been frequent these past few weeks. But the vandalism issue extends past the destruction of physical property.
On Sunday, April 21, the DePauw Student Government student senate and representatives met to discuss the recent outbreak of vandalism on campus -- the destruction of student artwork as well as the damage done to the pro-choice "Cemetery of the Innocent," as well as disrespectful internet posts.
These posts, which are on websites that contain DePauw's name, have made outlandish and sometimes sexually explicit claims, and publicized unresearched opinions behind the shield of anonymity.
A good portion of DSG's meeting was devoted to talking about these sites.
"It's sort of a double-edged sword," junior Alli Caplinger, one of the leaders of the discussion and junior class senator said. "They can say something really powerful or they could really hurt somebody."
Anonymity also has the ability to protect the writer from repercussions of their written opinions, which can lead bloggers to type whatever they please, with no discretion.
"It allows people to hide behind an anonymous mask," junior Walker Chance, a student government senator, said. "Anonymously we can pretty much do whatever we want."
Foul language, as well as graphically sexual comments targeting specific groups of people or even individuals, have been posted for the entire student body to read.
"The Facebook groups are really noticeable and that's what really got us talking about this," senior Sara Scully, student body president said.
Whether it is vandalism in the form of destruction of property or in the form of lewd comments on Facebook or blogs, there seems to be a general consensus among the members of student government that vandalism and a disregard for others is an issue at DePauw.
Many members of student government agreed that a difference in opinion is not a good enough reason to vandalize someone else's display and it is important to be able to express opinions openly at a liberal arts school.
However, other forms of vandalism are less political, and more a result of drunken, irresponsible students.
"The party culture definitely plays a huge role," Chance said.
However, Chance does not think this should absolve students from taking responsibility.
"You can't blame the alcohol for your actions. They're still your actions. Just because you're drunk that doesn't give you the right to knock something over or destroy artwork," Chance said.
Others at the meeting agreed with Chance's views and think that more needs to be done in order to hold students accountable for their poor behavior.
"No one really has to grow up here," junior Michael Paniccia said.
Paniccia went on to talk about issues of entitlement on campus and how DePauw students tend not to face normal consequences that non-DePauw students face when laws are broken. He described Public Safety as giving students, at most, "a slap on the wrist" for offenses like underage drinking.
But it's not all up to the administration and Public Safety.
"They shouldn't have to babysit an entire campus," Caplinger said.
Caplinger thinks that the most effective way to get through to the student body is to lead by example.
"We're student leaders for a reason," Caplinger said.
The vandalism discussion is not an issue solely for student government to partake in, but the rest of the student body as well.
"It's more or less students talking to students," Chance said. "All it takes is a couple people to start saying no."
Scully and her associates are also talking to the communications staff to make sure websites that have hurtful comments on them are not directly associated with DePauw.
Scully adjourned the meeting with one final statement: "Stand up on Facebook."
--Isabelle Chapman and Alex Paul contributed to this article.