Self-expression or vandalism?: How campus police view the chalk tunnel

Located at the corner of 400 N and 700 E, underneath the main road that curves around campus, is a passage to Old Main Hill commonly known as the chalk tunnel.

The tunnel connects a parking lot on the south side to another concrete sidewalk path that many students take up to the main campus. In comparison to other walking paths, bus routes and parking lots there are to choose from, the chalk tunnel is almost completely disguised.

But what makes the route unique is the overwhelming amount of chalk drawings that cover the tunnel walls. Hence, the root of its intriguing name.

The drawings range from random scribbles and doodles to cartoon images and representations of pop culture. Space within the tunnel has gotten so filled up from months past that people have started using the outer concrete wall going into the tunnel from the parking lot as a space for their drawings as well.

But there have been complaints about some of the drawings being inappropriate or offensive, said Steve Milne, the captain for the Utah State University Police.

Even though the artists’ identity is mostly unknown, the USU police are frequently contacting those they see in their security footage and warning them about the repercussions of drawing in the tunnels.

According to Utah Code 76-6-107, the drawings are considered graffiti because it defines graffiti to include “unauthorized printing, writing, spraying, scratching, affixing, etching or inscribing on property of another regardless of content or nature of material used” and violators can be cited under Utah Code 76-6-106(2)(c) for Criminal Mischief.

“Usually, if it is just chalk we will warn them, but there have been times where they have used paint and because that is harder to clean up, we have cited them under these laws,” Milne said.

Some students, however, see the drawings in a different light.

“It seems like a playful and non-destructive way for people to express themselves,” says Cody Christensen, a junior studying management information systems who passed through the tunnel every day last school year.

Other students would also agree with Christensen when he points out that the artwork in the tunnel does not affect whether or not he will use it.

“I wouldn’t necessarily consider it scenic,” said Austin Derbique, a computer engineering major graduating in the class of 2018.

For many, especially those living nearby, the tunnel merely fulfills its purpose as a way of getting from one place to another.

“I usually just walk from my place to 400 North and then jaywalk across the street to campus, but I think taking the tunnel is actually faster,” said Paul Graves, an undeclared sophomore.

In fact, after a safety study done in the early 1990s, construction workers decided to lower the levels of the parking lots, moving the dirt north of Aggie Village to build up the hillside where they then built the Aggie Village townhouses so that the tunnels could be put it in. This would make it so that pedestrians could safely go back and forth without having to worry about vehicle traffic and avoid running in front of cars traveling on 400 North.

Bramdon Linkogle, a resident of a student housing area known as the Island and a freshman majoring in business, says a lot of people don’t know even know about the tunnel because it’s so far south of Old Main and a lot of other student housing options are in the opposite direction.

Those who live in a convenient area for travel through the tunnel also have to worry about its safety.

Due to its location and lack of visibility from anyone not directly inside or at the mouth of it, the tunnel has presented concerns for those traveling alone, at night or too fast to notice anything that is happening around them.

“To help alleviate concern, it was decided to put in the cameras along with the access to emergency phones,” Milne said.

On this aspect of the tunnel, students and the USU Police are on the same terms.

“It’s quite the blind corner, which makes it a bit scary sometimes,” Derbique said, as he recalled running into a student while riding his bike into the tunnel.

Bike crashes would not be the first of interesting events that have occurred in the tunnel.

According to USU Police footage, the tunnel has been a site for people urinating, marriage proposals and even attempts from students to drive cars through them.

For the future, some have suggested that the art department and Facilities look into allowing a class to paint a mural in the tunnels, but whether or not that will be executed has yet to be determined.

—isabel.forinash@aggiemail.usu.edu

@imforinash