"This class sucks." "I (heart) Cox." "Haters!" "We don't belong here."
The pen marks left over from years of classes are marked on the backs of classroom chairs and in bathroom stalls across campus.
To some, they are eyesores; to others, they are a hassle to clean.
"It's school property and it belongs to everyone," said Samantha Banks, a sociology senior who works for the Audio Visual Lab in the Language and Literature building.
Part of Bank's job in the lab includes cleaning up the pen marks and pencil drawings students leave behind on desks and chairs in the lab.
"Even if they draw and write stupid quotes, it is still disrespectful because we all pay for it," she said. "But I don't think the people who do it realize that."
But Banks and the others like her who clean up the marks aren't the only ones who notice the graffiti around campus.
Judy Case, program manager for University Learning Environment Design and Enhancement, said once students see one area vandalized they think it is OK to continue the defacement.
"If they don't have respect for school property then they don't have respect for other things," Case said. "A clean attractive environment helps people learn better. I hope the work we are doing to upgrade [the University] ... will help students feel that the space here is worth of respect."
Communication senior Kel Vrana commented on the age level students act at who deface property.
"They pay to go here and want an education, but they still act like they are in junior high," Vrana said. "It's in the bathrooms, on desks, and the gum underneath the desks is just as bad."
Nursing sophomore Sasha Eng said she does not understand why students do it in the first place.
"It is disrespectful and childish," Eng said. "I mean, you have paper right there, why not write on that instead of carving into the desk?"
But there are some students on campus who don't see a real harm in defacing ASU property.
Business freshman Stephen Kim said he knows it is vandalism, but thinks it is therapeutic for some.
"Some people concentrate better when they draw," Kim said. "It is relaxing."
Reach the reporter at: heather.cutler@asu.edu.
