“Whammie.” “J-Ville.” “I call my brother son, cuz he shine like 1.” “Jesus Saves Moses invests.” “Goodfellas, established 1996.”

Random tags, drawings and symbols are scrawled and scratched into the hallways, doors, restrooms, elevators, basements and the exteriors of residence halls and academic buildings across the N.C. Central University campus.

But the Physical Plant plans to start responding to all reports of graffiti within 72 hours, according to its director, Robert Melton. Melton assumed the position two months ago.

In fact efforts are already underway. While students were on spring break, NCCU Physical Plant launched a campaign to get rid of the graffiti.

But some students said the graffiti has been around for too long.

According to Joshua White, education junior, some of it seems to stick around for months or even years before it gets cleaned up.

“It gets to be an eyesore,” White said.

“I lived on campus for two years in Chidley and the worst part of the whole experience was the condition that the building and grounds were in,” White said. “It was embarrassing to have my family helping me move in and out, or coming to visit, and having to walk down hallways with offensive graffiti all over the walls. I don’t understand why vandalism just lingers around for months.”

In order for the graffiti to get cleaned up it has to get reported, said Melton.

“Part of the problem is because people don’t report the damage,” Melton said. “We rely on the housekeeping staff as well as students and faculty to bring any signs of graffiti to our attention. Often, graffiti goes unreported.”

According to Physical Plant Operations Manager Edward King, graffiti cleanup tends to get put on hold because of manpower shortages and attention often gets directed to bigger projects.

“Because cleanup often involves pressure washers, sand blasters, paint or replacements, it becomes very time consuming and labor intensive,” said King.

“The same set of people we depend on to do things like taking care of the football field are the same ones who are sprucing up buildings and performing regular maintenance around campus—so manpower has become an issue,” said King.

“We often have to prioritize and decide which projects are more important. For example, the Human Sciences building needing to be in shape for an upcoming accreditation would be more pressing than cleaning graffiti,” said King.

English professor Tom Evans said NCCU’s graffiti problem needs to be understood as part of a larger picture. He said that that graffiti should be understood as a form of expressive behavior.

“Graffiti is everywhere—even other universities like Duke and UNC,” said Evans. “Bright people seem to express themselves in nonstandard and creative ways,” said Evans. “I would much rather the university use its resources to fix one of its much larger problems.”

White agreed that graffiti may not be one of NCCU’s biggest problems, but said he worries about how it may tarnish the university’s image.

“Graffiti is not the biggest problem we have on this campus, but we have a big enough image problem at this school,” said White.