On the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 22, Lewis & Clark students discovered graffiti on the College of Arts and Sciences’ academic campus. Several buildings were vandalized with spray paint, including the entrance to Miller facing the Fields Center for the Visual Arts, the first-floor entrance to the Aubrey R. Watzek Library, the Fields Center, the Dovecote and BoDine Hall.
Previous incidents have occurred on and around Indigenous Peoples Day, which is on Oct. 14, in 2021, 2022 and 2023. This year, the graffiti appeared eight days after Indigenous Peoples Day.
The messages this year were exclusively focused on protesting the Israeli military action in Gaza. This is a contrast to last year’s messages, which contained a mixture of political commentary related to Indigenous groups, denunciations of academia and deprecation of Campus Safety.
Though some graffiti last year referenced Palestine, the majority of political messaging criticized the school’s name and history, referring to it as a “STUPID COLINIZER (sic)SCHOOL.” This year, the graffiti did not explicitly address Indigenous Americans or LC’s name.
“FREE PALESTINE,” “FREE GAZA” and “STOLEN LAND” were some of the most prominent messages, featured across multiple buildings.
Unlike after last year’s graffiti incident, the administration has not communicated directly with the student body about the impacts of the vandalism on campus.
Director of Public Relations Lois Leveen, speaking on behalf of the LC administration, commented on this year’s graffiti.
“The administration recognizes that this vandalism is disruptive and disturbs community members. Sending out a campus-wide response can seem like we are rewarding whoever is acting out in this malicious and hurtful way by making them the center of attention,” Leveen said in a statement to The Mossy Log. “Instead, we are focusing time, attention, and resources on more productive and supportive efforts to strengthen our community and fulfill Lewis & Clark’s core mission, which is educating the next generation of leaders to address the challenges facing our world today. One of those challenges is the breakdown in civil discourse and civic engagement, which, unfortunately, includes this act of vandalism.”
According to Leveen, the cost of the physical cleanup was approximately $6,000, but other indirect costs, such as the additional administrative meetings the vandalism warranted, are more difficult to account for.
Several graffiti sentiments drew attention to the ongoing inquiry into the college’s investments in companies associated with Israeli military activity, including the recent disclosure that at least $983,000 is invested in arms manufacturers.
“$983,000,” read graffiti on the Dovecote and the Albany Quadrangle.
Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Evette Castillo Clark said that the vandalism could undercut the efforts by students to encourage the administration to divest LC’s endowment from U.S. companies that either have supplied Israel with military aid or do business with or in Israel.
“I’m concerned and disappointed that violations like this not only upset and antagonize students, staff and faculty, they also may undermine the efforts of the students who are working on bringing a proposal regarding divestment to the Board of Trustees,” Castillo Clark said.
Leveen noted that, strategically, associations between the graffiti and the efforts to divest are not favorable, even given the fact that administration does not know who did the graffiti.
“My understanding is, if you are trying to persuade the Board of Trustees or members of the Board of Trustees to do something, vandalizing the buildings is probably not going to help make your case,” she said. “I’m not assuming anything about who vandalized the buildings, right? I don’t know if they were people who were Lewis and Clark students, faculty, staff, or who just wandered onto campus.”
Dean of the College Bruce Suttmeier said that the incident hindered the community’s progress in discussing and processing the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“Faculty and staff have put in many hours over many months to plan and lead teach-ins and other events in which members of the Lewis & Clark community are engaging deeply and thoughtfully around difficult history and distressing current global events,” he said. “Vandalizing buildings is more than just destructive to physical buildings. It feels destructive to what the rest of our community is trying to do.”
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