North Central provides housing for over 1,500 students, giving them the option to choose between 12 different residence halls based upon the student’s credit hours. This year was the grand opening of the newest residence hall, New Hall, which is located directly behind Patterson Hall, just walking distance from the Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. This is a place many students call home for nine months out of the year, but how would you feel if your home was vandalized?
During the fall term of this school year, Patterson Hall has experienced vandalism and during this term New Hall has experienced similar types of vandalism. The vandalism has been primarily done to signage, Resident Assistant bulletin boards and décor, and hallway publicity.
The North Central College Student Handbook clearly states that damage and vandalism are prohibited. Damage is defined as destruction, damage or abuse of any property, public or private and vandalism is defined as deliberate attempts to deface property.
“It’s frustrating that someone is destroying a place we call home,” said Devin O’Neill (’16), senior. “I think it is completely disrespectful to the school, the RAs and even the other residents in the building. I hope the person or people who have done this receive punishment that doesn’t affect the rest of us.”
Resident assistants and area hall directors have decided that until the party responsible for the vandalism to the two buildings is known, the entire community will be responsible for the damage done to the certain areas in the building.
“There is typically not a monetary amount assigned to an RA bulletin board but, as you can imagine, it is disheartening for an RA who has put a lot of effort into making their hallway a friendly, welcoming place,” said Sarah Koukal, director of Residence Life.
The cost for the damaged signage that must be replaced is assigned to the community as a whole until the party responsible is identified. In both cases of vandalism, students would not only be responsible for any monetary restitution, but would also be referred to North Central’s student conduct process under the damage and vandalism policy.
“The people who have done this to the residence halls probably think they were just having fun,” said Ryan Gallagher (’16), senior. “But this is just disrespectful to the school. You can have fun without causing damage to buildings, I do it all the time!”
When students live on campus, they are expected to have a certain level of responsibility to care for and invest in the environment that they live in. The overall affect for the entire community of the residence halls is certainly negative, unless the party responsible for this action comes forward.
“It is more likely than not that at least one person in the building knows who is responsible for the damage and we would encourage those individuals to come forward, or to encourage others to come forward,” Koukal said. “Most of our students are great community members and vandalism is certainly frustrating – and probably annoying – for those who love their communities and treat them with respect.”
To help prevent this issue from happening again, resident assistants and Campus Safety officers patrol the buildings multiple times each evening, hoping to deter the act of vandalism. Residence Life staff have also been sending email notifications to the building members reminding them of the community expectations and asking for the responsible parties – or other who have information – to come forward.
“It makes me sad that if the person, who vandalized the buildings, lives in New Hall (or Patterson) and feels so worthy of destroying something they have put money towards,” said Ana Krkic (’17), junior. “I feel upset that I’m responsible for the vandalism of someone that I don’t know. Maybe video cameras would be a good decision.”
According to Koukal, there is no immediate plans to install video cameras or other monitoring systems in the residence halls, but they do check things, like swipe access to see the comings and goings in each building. As of right now, Resident Assistant and Campus Safety rounds continue to serve as a first-level monitoring system in the buildings.
“It is always disheartening when we hear about vandalism in the halls, especially because I know how much time, effort and love goes into making our halls a home,” Koukal said. “I am always sad for our student staff members, especially, when these incidents occur.”
If you have any information about this matter, please contact the Residence Life or Campus Safety offices.
