Editorial: Offensive bathroom scrawlings need fixing
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 26, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Simon and Garfunkel sang that “the words of the prophets
are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.” Well,
the words of someone else are written in UCLA bathroom stalls.
Here’s a small ““ and self-censored ““ sampling
of what students, faculty, staff and visitors can find scrawled in
Ackerman and Kerckhoff restrooms: “F— Republicans.”
“F— rabbits.” “BJs here.” “Get
sucked off here.”
If you’re offended, you should be ““Â and you
should know it gets worse.
People can find large (and detailed) pornographic drawings. One
stall includes a sketch of a large penis with an explainer
““Â 8.5 inches. Naked women are common. The perversion is
astounding.
Writings include slurs of the worst kind against Jews, Muslims,
Arabs, gays, white people and just about any other group
imaginable. It’s frightening that anyone here would harbor
such hatred ““Â even if they only express it hiding away
in a bathroom corner with a Sharpie or etching tool.
To be fair to roughly 50 percent of the population, the problem
appears isolated mostly to men’s rooms. And even there, there
are modest attempts to wash away some markings. But more should be
done.
UCLA tackles big challenges, like curing cancer and developing
nanotechnology.
Can’t it also keep its bathrooms free from hurtful words
and disgusting drawings?
