Students have mixed opinions on graffiti. Some believe that while tagging is definitely vandalism, graffiti itself is an art form.


Art is one of the most expressive forms of communication, but some say private property is not the place for individuals to express themselves. Graffiti can be debated as both an art form and a form of vandalism, depending on whom you ask.

The janitorial staff has long been plagued by campus taggers and their various methods of getting their name out there. Spray paint and felt markers are only the basic methods taggers use at Chaffey.

One of the more creative and irremovable methods is known as acid etching, which is when acid is put on glass so it melts directly into it. Other taggers simply super glue their decals onto street signs and walls.

"Honestly, districtwide I would say every day there is a graffiti problem somewhere, someplace on campus," supervisor of hazardous materials Frank Juarez said. "It can be around the phone booths, the walls, the benches and picnic areas. We even have cases where they graffiti trees and stop signs. Generally its just students who like to see their name on a wall."

The janitorial staff generally begins work at 5 a.m. and one of their first priorities is to check, stock, and clean the restrooms. That's when they discover all the problems from the night before. The staff leaves at 2 p.m., so any graffiti problems from the night before pile up the next day.

According to Juarez, there is a big graffiti surge at the start of the semester and then it starts to taper down until the next big campus event. Whenever the campus is open to the community, there is an enormous surge in graffiti.

Taggers that are caught in the act are often convicted of felony destruction of private property. The janitorial staff along with campus police may set up monitors or they can use under cover people to walk around the halls in order to catch taggers.

"We do under-cover investigations. once they set a pattern and we know what their tag looks like, we know who's doing it," said Juarez. "Graffiti is frustrating, it's time consuming, and it's very costly."

One incident involving only one tagger cost an estimated $3,500 worth of damage. It took the janitorial staff about 30 days to catch the individual. Different areas in the law enforcement helped catch the tagger. They got a search warrant for his house, which led to his arrest.

Students have mixed opinions on graffiti. Some believe that while tagging is definitely vandalism, graffiti itself is an art form.

"I can't understand what they're saying," Adam Adame said. "It's just scribbles and crap. Sometimes I can make out the letters D and M, but it's written in some ghetto code I can't read."

Adame said that in general he hates grafitti, "but some of it is kind of cool. If it's like a mural and they are asked to do it, then it's OK."

Eric Edu shares the opinion, though he sees a distinction between taggers and graffiti artists.

"With graffiti art you can draw big pieces and stuff like that, and tagging is just getting your name out there," Edu said. "It's not really art. I'm not down with graffiti on campus because I think that's destroying property. But in the gutters? Who owns that?"

Graffiti artist Mike Balinthy agrees graffiti can be used destructively, but only when it is used outside the art form.

"Graffiti artists are sometimes asked to do it, like they'll ask you to do graffiti right there," Balinthy said. "Usually they'll want you to spray paint a mural in like a plaza. The stuff you see in the bathrooms here are just taggers. That's not real graffiti art. They're just abusing the art form."

Balinthy is one of the many graffiti artists that have been asked to do graffiti artwork in Pasadena. South Pasadena is a gathering area for many graffiti artists to get together and compete with one another.

According to Balinthy, while taggers do it because they are bored, graffiti artists do it for the fun and because they love the artwork.

"You need to have a big imagination to do graffiti artwork," he said. "Some of my friends used to tag parks and tunnels, but that's not the right way to use graffiti. I just love the art form."