If you have revolutionary potential, you have a moral imperative to make the world a better place. There are many students here on this great Syracuse University campus with revolutionary potential, however the student who decided to vandalize multiple academic buildings Sunday night is not one of those students.
As someone who, in the most humble way possible, considers herself a student leader, I was disappointed in the delivery method of the messages spray painted on many buildings around campus.

As young adults, there comes a time in our lives when we have to hold ourselves accountable and not blame others for our failures and misfortunes. One of the messages read, “$57,000 to take your finals.” What this student fails to realize is that he or she is taking these final exams by choice.

All of the messages seem to have a common theme of bashing the “system” and denouncing university politics. If this student was so concerned with university policies and ethics, he or she would not have enrolled in Syracuse University in the first place. Now some students are calling this anonymous graffiti artist a revolutionary and I have a problem with that. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Malcom X — those were revolutionaries.

This student is a coward who waited until the final week of the semester to publicly express his or her concerns. You are complaining about the costs of the university but failing to realize that the school is just going to use your own money to fix the buildings your defaced.

This disgruntled student has two options: leave the university or try to change it, and spray painting messages on the side of Newhouse is doing nothing but causing a scene and giving DPS something to do with its time. If this student wants to change the broken education system in America or just on this campus, anonymously writing messages on academic buildings won’t do that.

Show your face, let your real voice be heard. If you want to stand up to administration, don’t do it at 3 a.m. where no one can see or hear you. I understand this student’s frustration and I even agree with the messages, but if you want to cause a riot, start a revolution and bring these campus and societal issues to light, maybe you shouldn’t hide in the dark.

Nia Boles
Pre-Medical Track, Psychology & Neuroscience Major
Class of 2015