Shake it up the Right Way

By Spartan Edge editorial board

 
Photos by Nick Robinson

From pop-culture references like “I’m on a boat” to aliens reminding us “We are all different,” graffiti is an edgy, integral part of campus. 

Walking around MSU, graffiti is clearly a defining part of the landscape. Over the years, students have added their tricked-out, wicked creative marks of paint to various locations around campus. It’s an awesome experience (and photo op) to check out the artwork under the bridges on Farm Lane and Bogue.  

On long walks, it’s a fun game to squint at the fading stencil profiles of figures, trying to place names with the faces half-worn off by foot traffic, bicycles and weather. Is that one Che Guevara?  

Graffiti is technically defined as “unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface,” according to good, old Merriam-Webster. The way we see it, it’s much more than that. It can be engaging artwork, sharing opinions in a creative, captivating format – and it usually is at MSU.  

Then there’s graffiti that consists of scrawling “minge,” “twat” and phallic symbols across slabs of sidewalk. Sorry, but we don’t understand what you’re accomplishing with that. There’s no message, besides the fact that you have the humor of a hormonal 13-year-old boy. It’s not artsy, and it’s certainly not creative. What gives?  

Those pointless marks stumped us, but some other acts of graffiti cross the line from immature to destructive.  

The brick pillars in the garden area behind the Chemistry building now have “M$U” and “Give it up Lou Anna” scrawled across them. The message presumably provokes any reader who can make out the sloppy words to consider President Lou Anna K. Simon’s pay in light of tuition rates. OK – the subject is fair game. Here at Spartan Edge we’ve looked at how much teachers make and where our tuition money goes, so we feel your concern over how the two are related for the better or worse interest of the students.  

Spray-painting your frustration on the brick pillars though? It just looks sloppy and stupid.  

It’s one thing to put graffiti under the bridges where curious souls can go out of their way to check it out, or on one slab of sidewalk where it can viably be removed (though it still costs some money.)  

Putting it on a structure like the brick pillars in the garden crosses a line. It’s a pretty big structure, and the hastily scribbled words can’t be easily removed. If you’re as concerned about where your money’s going as your spray-scribble proclaims, shouldn’t you have thought about the cost of your act?  

We’re not asking anyone to put down the spray-paint for good.  

Go ahead. Shake up a few bottles and shake up the thought process of passers-by. Get creative, share your opinion, and add to the uniqueness of campus.  

Before you let the paint flow, think about how you’re leaving your mark. MSU has better things to display than pubescent humor and self-defeating acts of recklessness.

Questions? Comments? Contact Editor-in-Chief Amanda Peterka at peterkaa@msu.edu

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