CMU School of Drama


Monday, March 28, 2011

Operation Heal the Fence responds to earlier vandalism

The Tartan Online: "A group of first-year art students used a hacksaw on the Fence Monday afternoon to carve away some of its layers of paint. In response, Tim Hieter, a master's candidate in materials science and engineering, created a Facebook event — 'Operation Heal the Fence' — which attracted hundreds of students to the Cut that night to reclaim and repaint the Fence.

9 comments:

kservice said...

I get it. It's unfortunate that some silly kids took it upon themselves to vandalize school property. But expulsion is rather extreme. Hopefully the "school pride" reaction shocked the students into realizing how damaging their actions were to the school identity. I think it's unlikely...

I do like the alternative tidbit about the fence being a symbol of separation between Margaret Morrison College and Carnegie Tech. Not sure how much I agree with it, but I always appreciate a different point of view that reminds everyone of how complex histories and traditions can be.

Brian Rangell said...

There's obviously no way to know the students' motives in cutting into the Fence, but I agree with Kevin - expulsion's a bit far to go with this. Funny enough, vandalism charges would actually be the most fair, appropriate response to this situation. A fine for the paint to repair the fence and community service (especially campus-oriented community service) could make the punishment more fit the crime.

The most interesting thing to me was that this incident brought into light the notion of what "school spirit" is at CMU. For a school without serious sports teams and with such serious segregation among the students of different departments, it's not often that we see such a rallying point as this Fence event. Tonight was a vigil for the student who died last week - the Fence was repainted immediately at midnight and the vigil appeared very well supported. Is this our culture? Locking away in our labs and clusters until tragedy, then coming together at the one icon that we all feel is our representative space? Something tells me the same reaction would not come from defacing Walking to the Sky...

David P said...

I feel like if the students had vandalized another part of the university, like spraypainting on the side of Purnell, that they would not have been penalized so harshly. Also, I have heard mixed stories, but one of the most common ones is that the students were trying to make the fence into an art piece. In this sense, they very well may have been adding to the fence's history in their own way. Another thing which I found insightful was the assertion that the fence is a symbol of gender inequity, which has kind of been swept under the rug when teaching students about the traditions of the fence.

Anonymous said...

My roommate, a freshman art major, said that her classmates that cut the fence were doing so as part of a class assignment that had to do with site-specific/environmental art work. Since every student at Carnegie Mellon is allowed to paint the fence, I understand how these students could have thought that making the fence into art by cutting it was an acceptable thing to do. I just think they should have realized that the fence is more than an object we can all paint; it's a symbol of school pride and it unifies everyone on campus-I mean, who hasn't painted the fence? I do agree with Brian and Kevin in that expulsion is going way too far. The sheer embarrassment of these students, who have basically been trashed by the rest of campus, has probably been punishment enough. The bit about the fence as a symbol of gender inequality does not seem relevant here. The fence has becoming something different. Just as the university has changed, so has the fence. The fence's transformation from a separator to a unifier can be seen as reflective of the transformation that the university itself has undergone. I think the real issue here is respect, and hopefully these students have learned that.

Devrie Guerrero said...

I agree that expulsion is a little harsh. i also think paying a fine would be harsh as well. If anything, the students should spend community service hours improving the carnegie mellon campus or community.

If they were trying to make an art piece, they should have waited until midnight and not have tried to cut into the fence, but add to it instead. They are freshman who probably didn't know any better. It just another example of people needing to think of the consequences before they act.

MaryL said...

I agree with everyone saying expulsion is extreme. The people calling for that kind of repercussion acting on anger, but although I disagree with their anger induced version of justice I have to agree with their anger. The fence is one of the only things on campus that all departments share. Such things need to be protected because the do represent the unity of a very segregated community.Painting the fence is an important right of passage tradition. Our class was told in the first week that it was something we were supposed to do within the first semester. Not only did our class experience bonding due to that night but there was an acceptance for having completed it. We were all very proud that Monday morning. I am sure that those who attacked the vandals with such venom felt the same. But the fence is more that a symbol of school spirit. The original fence is the most painted object in the world. When it collapsed under its own weight a new one was built with concrete and steel. The new fence is now the 2nd most painted object. This makes the fence a landmark as well as a symbol of school spirit. I am glad the vandals have been caught and will be punished but expulsion is extreme.

abotnick said...

The fence is an important symbol to all Carnegie Mellon students and I understand why people are so upset about the vandalism. But I'm kind of angry about the response to this vandalism. Yes the fence is important but what about the tsunami in Japan that just happened? Isn't that a little more important than a fence missing a few layers of paint? Don't get me wrong I love the fence and the traditions that surround it and wouldn't harm it in any way. But the response was a little dramatic and if I had to pick to support the fence or Japan I think I'm going to try and help people recover from a natural disaster that killed thousands first.

Nicole Addis said...

I have to admit I completely forget the history of the fence until I read this article. I understand the students complaint that it is a symbol of inequality between men and women, but the history of the fence has drastically changed since the schools combined and now it stands for the complete opposite. Now, the fence is about unity, bringing people together in tradition and stereotypical college shenanigans. By chipping away at the fence, and breaking the code of its life, the students were really trying to tear apart a community that bonded over it. That may not have been their intentions, but as the Operation Heal the Fence showed is that it really brings people together now, not tear them apart. They need to rethink their selfish actions because they clearly are not seeing the bigger picture or living in a dead past.

emilyannegibson said...

Agreed about the harshness of expulsion, and also agreed that it should be taken as an act of vandalism. I think it is important as a symbol of the CMU community, and really a rallying point for everyone in a school where we are so separated. I was really interested in the comment about anti-feminism. It stuck me as totally weird. If that sort of thinking governed us, then so many things would be considered not PC just because of their history. And let's face it: most of history has elements of non-PC behaviour. That's how we got to where we are. The point is moving past it, not forgetting, but not harping.