The recently donated horse statue outside the W. P. Carey School of Business was vandalized early Tuesday morning with a message expressing opposition to the school’s placement of the statue during the state’s budget crisis.

“Budget cuts[,] tuition increase[,] but at least we got the statue,” the writing said.

Cmdr. Jim Hardina of the ASU Police Department said the incident happened overnight, and police were notified around 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday.

The message was written in spray paint, he said, and there were no leads as to who might have vandalized the statue as of Tuesday afternoon.

Hardina said surveillance cameras at a nearby parking garage might have caught the incident on film, but no cameras were directly watching that area.

Robert Mittelstaedt, dean of the business school, said the vandalism of the statue was misguided.
“It shows a lack of respect for everyone in this community,” he said.

He said the school has received a lot of positive feedback about the statue, which conveys a spirit of entrepreneurship.

On top of that, the school paid no money for the statue, he said. Valued at $1.3 million, it was a donation by ASU alumna Donna Fleisher and her husband.

“The only University money being spent is used to clean it up now,” Mittelstaedt said.
And that process could cost several thousand dollars.

Because the bronze statue is about 20 years old, it has developed a greenish tint that will be hard to preserve where it was vandalized, he said.

“The statue is not brand new,” he said. “We’ll have to pay a professional restorer.”

Mittelstaedt said the school was never in a position to accept money instead of the statue.

He added that the donors specifically wanted the University to have a prominent piece of art.

“I think this is really sad because the reality is that on many well-respected university campuses around the United States there’s sculptures and statues,” he said. “This is the first, if not the only, significant big sculpture on campus here.”

Mittelstaedt said he understands people may be upset about tuition increases or budget cuts, but actions like this hurt the school as well.

If people see this kind of disrespect on campus, it might deter them from making future donations, he said.

The statue, called “Spirit,” was completed in 1989 for the Fleisher Museum in Scottsdale. It was moved to its new location outside of the business school on Jan. 24.

Installation and landscaping for the statue should be complete in the coming weeks, and it is expected to be dedicated shortly after, although an exact date is not set.

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.