Vandalism in Neufeld and Ramseyer halls

In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 14, an exit sign on the ceiling of fourth floor Neufeld Hall was torn down, causing extensive damage to the ceiling tiles. On the same morning a water fountain was pulled out from the wall of the first floor of Ramseyer Hall, and a piece of furniture in the Ramseyer Hall lobby was broken. The person responsible has yet to be identified.

Miles Frey, a sophomore early childhood education major, was the RA on duty when he came across the damage during a routine safety check. He then contacted a hall director, attempted to clean up the area and wrote an incident report.

According to Tyson Goings, director of residential life, both of these instances are still currently in the processes of being reviewed and handled by the Residence Life Department. Whether residents who live on the floors where the damages occurred are fined depends on if the person responsible identified. 

“Since a piece of furniture was broken in the lobby of Ramseyer, the cost will be divided among the residents of the entire hall,” said Goings. “Damage done on individual floors will be split by members of the floor unless the person responsible is identified.” 

When asked what his response would be to students who believe that community fines are unfair because they are not responsible for the damage Phill Talavinia, vice president of Student Affairs, said that shared billing serves to encourage students to help the university to identify the person responsible for the damage. 

“There is no ideal way to navigate these kinds of situations,” said Talavinia. “If and when the person responsible is identified the disciplinary process will be handled through the Campus Conduct system.” 

Talavinia also said he has seen very few instances like this since he has taken over in the Student Life Department. He encourages students to continue to be respectful to each other and to campus property.