Early Friday evening, on one of the final days before daylight savings began bringing darkness upon the campus as many students are just getting out of class, residents of Martin Luther Hall were notified that a water fountain was completely ripped from the wall on the third floor of the building.
The notification came in the form of an email from David Garcia, Area Coordinator for the East area of campus. The email specified that the damage was so severe that the water fountain was no longer functional and therefore had to be replaced.
“This type of behavior is unacceptable; it shows a lack of respect for the community and the property as a whole. If anyone has any information as to what happened regarding this, please let me know at your earliest convenience,” the email continued. “If no information is provided, then it is possible to charge the building to cover the costs of these repairs. If you know or if someone you know has any knowledge about this, please have them reach out to me directly.”
Brenda Lakis, Associate Director of Campus Safety, noted that the investigation is still ongoing, and there is no further information at this time.
“It did take some force for the type of damage that occurred”
She also explained the impact that the incident of vandalism had on not only the residence hall, but the campus community as a whole.
“The impact is more of a cost to replace [the water fountain] …[and] man hours to clean up and install/remove the unit,” she said. “[The] impact to the community in the residence hall would be [that] they are without the drinking fountain until repairs can be made.”
The water fountain has since been repaired and replaced.
Ryan Hebert ‘22, a resident of Martin Luther third floor, was not on campus during the weekend that the incident took place; however, he has been trying to search for answers of what happened on his floor.
“I wasn’t here that weekend; I had to go home for a doctor’s appointment, but when I got back I asked around if anyone knew what happened,” Hebert said. “Everyone on the floor I asked gave the same general answer of ‘I don’t know who did it or what happened, but I’m not complaining because we got a newer, better water fountain.’”
“I’m not sure how someone could have broken it, but then again, I didn’t really see what it looked like”
Hebert continued on to explain that the new water fountain includes the bottle-filling station and therefore seems to be cleaner. Nonetheless, despite the fact that the water fountain is new, he expresses grief for the circumstances.
“I do feel bad that it had to be replaced,” he remarked. “At the same time, I’m not sure how someone could have broken it, but then again, I didn’t really see what it looked like. It was fixed by the time I got back on campus.”
Lakis also commented on the probable action involved in the destruction.
“It did take some force for the type of damage that occurred,” she added.
RAs in the building were unable to comment due to the confidentiality of the situation.
