Vandalism costs money, inconvenience

About $1,500 per year of student fees is spent to repair damage in the Hobson Memorial Union

Starting in early 1994, I worked for my first-ever newspaper, The Northern Student, the student newspaper at Bemidji State University, where I attended and received my bachelor's degree in mass communication. Over three years, I would be a staff writer, news editor, managing editor and editor. I wrote everything from news stories to feature stories to sports stories to opinion pieces. It was the greatest training ground a journalist could ever have, and I am grateful to the many talented people I worked alongside in my years at The NS.

Oct. 26, 1994

By Devlyn Brooks

News Editor

"Twenty-five percent of the work orders we receive are reports of vandalism," said Building and Grounds Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Sande.

Out of the 64 man hours logged by maintenance in a day, an average of 16 are needed simply to repair vandalized objects, said Sande.

In a typical 26-week academic year that would mean an average of 2,080 hours are spent repairing vandalism. At an average wage of $27.42 per hour, the labor alone costs roughly $57,033 each year.

Sande said it would be difficult to get an accurate dollar amount of the actual material needed to do those repairs, though.

Director of Security and Safety Erle Steigauf also says vandalism is a concern.

"(Vandalism) is the second highest category of incidents reported," said Steigauf. It is second only to theft. "If it is above a certain dollar amount, then it is not (considered) vandalism. It may be malicious mischief."

General Maintenance Worker Ed Driscoll disagrees, however. "Someone throws a can of pop down the stairs, is that vandalism? Sure it is."

Whether it is beat-up toilet paper holders and paper towel dispensers, or cigarette burns in the carpet, Driscoll says he sees vandalism on a daily basis.

"It not only costs money to fix it, it takes the utility out of an object. Things that are vandalized need to be replaced more often," he said.

Steigauf stressed that time is an additional cost of vandalism. He said time spent by an officer investigating the case could be better spent elsewhere.

Driscoll added that inconvenience to students, faculty and staff is another major cost.

The building that should concern students the most is the Hobson Memorial Union, said Driscoll.

Student fees pay for the maintenance of the union and any vandalism repairs have to be covered by those fees, he said.

Hobson Memorial Union Director Ken Brandt said that it costs students about $1,500 a year to repair the damages done by vandalism. Sande said he believes it costs more.

Manager Jim Korhanen of Northern Amusement, which services video games and pinball machines at BSU, said that vandalism isn't generally a problem for them.

But, he said last year they had a rash of incidents for about a month. These were attributed to the same individual or individuals who were never caught. He said the dollar amount of the damage done was private information.

Korhanen also said that Northern Amusement has more problems with the machines in the union than those in Tamarack or Oak Halls.

Susan Hoosier, owner of Northern Lakes Vending, said they have only had three incidents of vandalism during the five years she has owned the company.

She said the incidents probably cost $300 to $500 each time.

She said she feels that this is because their machines are located in the residence halls and not in the Union.

Since vandalism isn't done when many people are around, it "is a pretty tough thing to control," said Steigauf. "Nobody is going to vandalize something if they think they are being watched."

When new security cameras are added to the northern parking lots at BSU, Steigauf expects the car vandalism to decrease.

As reinforcement signs will also be posted by the lots, warning potential vandals of the cameras' presence.

The southern parking lots are going to have to wait, though. There wasn't enough money to purchase cameras for every lot, he said.

Korhanen said to stop vandalism in the union, security must change the way they patrol the academic buildings.

He said there needs to be more than one security officer patrolling the academic buildings at night.

Driscoll said he believes to curb vandalism, students and faculty must respond.

"If (people) see someone doing something, stop them," he said.