Kendall Hazel | Staff Writer

Vandalism occurred in the residence halls of Buena Vista University during the weekend of October 23. The majority of the vandalism took place in Pierce and White Hall, but damage also took place in McCorkle Hall.

The damage in Pierce/White consisted of broken ceiling tiles, broken exit signs, and a broken water fountain. A knife was also found stabbed into a wall. Additional damage was found in McCorkle Hall which included a broken bulletin board and a broken window.

Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Campus Security at BVU Mark Kirkholm explained the usual process following the report of an incident:

“Security and Res Life work together to try and put information out trying to encourage people to report it and/or get the folks responsible to come forward and do it because if we can’t get the person responsible to do it… it impacts a lot more people,” Kirkholm said.

The damages in McCorkle Hall have since been resolved, but the persons responsible for the damage in Pierce/White are yet to be identified. A community damage fee will be enforced if there is no admission of guilt from the responsible party, according to Kirkholm, meaning the all the residents of Pierce/White will pay shares of the fines.

Kirkholm explained that the vandalism and the vomiting impacts campus on a level separate from money:

“The issues of the vomit, the garbage, the broken bottles, the trash… that impacts the custodial staff who have to clean it up. They are completely underappreciated having to clean up somebody else’s vomit and excrement because they [the person responsible] don’t have the courtesy to take care of it… that’s actually quite disturbing to me,” Kirkholm said.

Students are encouraged to report any future incidents of vandalism to their residence advisors or residence housing directors.