A great article on “Graffiti” vandalism appeared in The Nicholls Worth dated March 7, 2011. Many thanks to Mr. Ross Landry: he certainly did a great job and many thanks for picking Peltier Hall as his first stop.

Peltier Hall was established in 1967, and by my count, that makes it 44 years old. The restrooms and the whole building are in pretty dammed good shape for such an old building. It probably is one of the most trafficked buildings on campus. We have four custodians with a lot of pride in their work and a great faculty to work with. They also have a lot of pride in their work.

What you failed to mention and is very important is the cost, money-wise, to remove graffiti. It’s not cheap anymore. Paint is very expensive. If you had to pay outside painters to remove the graffiti and vandalism, you would have to shut down the building. Thanks to Pat and his crew (NSU Painters): they do a wonderful job, as does the NSU maintenance crews. When you try to use our removal chemicals, it removes the paint and there is the added work and expense. It’s very costly to remove any graffiti today.

Maybe during orientation, the fear of God should be put into the new students when they begin their first classes at NSU. I know fear was instilled in me when I came to NSU in 1958. Why has that changed so much? Maybe we should go back to that old theory, “Train the students; don’t let them train you.”

I leave you with this phrase: Foolish names and foolish faces are always found in foolish places.

LeRoy Freman

Custodian, Peltier Hall