The Concourse has evolved. It's become more than a concrete walkway--it's a giant chalkboard. It's a silent public forum in which any student can participate.
Most weeks there's a new advertisement for a campus group or a message to a friend. It's an impromptu mashup of calendar and messageboard that we think shouldn't be restricted.
But the Concourse is different from other areas of campus. It was a mistake for the Nerds N' Geeks club to use chalk on buildings on campus. Markings on the halls, however innocently created, attract attention to structures on campus in an unpleasant way. They're too grafiti-esque.
We like the chalk on the Concourse, but keep it on the Concourse.
We believe there's a sense of community to be found in these chalk messages. They're signs of an active, vibrant student body.
It's also an interesting tactic for getting a message out. A few slips of paper on the bulletin boards in the Haley Center are a start, but so easily missed. A table on the Concourse is all right for most groups, but if you don't have the manpower to swarm the area with pamphlets and nifty T-shirts it can be a waste of time. The drawings are simple, they're unobtrusive, and we want to see more of them.
The chalk also brings a charm to our campus that can't be found in other areas.
The Shelby Center, for example, is a beautiful addition to our campus. But for all of its attractive architecture and brickwork it's lacking the sense of fun that a piece of child's sidewalk chalk has brought to the Concourse.
It's not all low-budget advertising and birthday wishes, however. Sometimes you'll find some clever person has written a phone number to call for a "good time;" or someone will have scribbled an inside joke for all of the University to not get. These are irritating, but it comes with the territory, and we shouldn't do away with the practice because of a few dense individuals.
Tom Tillman, director of University Planning, isn't crazy about the state of the Concourse. We understand his apprehension. The drawings can be considered disrespectful of the value of our University if you think that way, but that's not the essense of the writings, and definitely not the intent.
Some are worried about how the drawings make the University look to potential students or donors, but Auburn's image isn't degraded by these drawings. We don't think applicants would be put off by the drawings, and only the most stuffy of stuffed-shirted parents would be turned away because of few scribbles in front of Haley Center.
It would be a shame for a cage of rules around the Concourse. There's something ridiculous about petitioning the University to draw with some sidewalk chalk, and we think it would do more to completely deter the practice instead of organizing it. There are things in life that don't require regulation or approval. This is one of those things.
The chalk on the Concourse isn't a problem. It hasn't been a problem for as long as any of us have been at Auburn. We can only hope the University doesn't turn it into one.
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