Vanguard

Issue date: 11/5/07 Section: News

Recently, a late-model, dark-colored Nissan Maxima has been seen on campus with markings on the driver side that say "child molester," surrounded with polka dots. The rear window was marked with "I [heart] [drawing of male genitals] and little boys." The passenger side was marked with a fake Mississippi phone number and the words "Wanna put you to bed," followed by a smiley face.
After several weeks of investigation, The Vanguard has learned that the vehicle belongs to University of South Alabama freshman and Pi Kappa Phi pledge Robert Stephen Brown, according to Emily Ulmer-Feinstein, coordinator of student activities and Greek life.
Several students have noticed that Brown frequently parks his car in the Pi Kappa Phi's fraternity house parking lot and have expressed concerns that the writings were the result of hazing.
"I can assure you that this in no way was due to hazing," said Ulmer-Feinstein.
The president of Pi Kappa Phi reported to Ulmer-Feinstein that the writings were done by a high school friend of Brown's and that Brown "had been too lazy to take it off," according to Ulmer-Feinstein.
A student and friend of Brown, who wishes to remain anonymous, confirmed that a high school friend was responsible for the writings, which occurred during a recent visit by Brown to his hometown in Mississippi.
Brown claims the writings were only the car for four days and that he took his vehicle to a professional car wash "a month ago." However, the writings on the passenger side were still clearly visible as of this past week.
Although writing derogatory words on cars is not a crime, words that are offensive to the South Alabama community can move the University Disciplinary Committee to take action, according to The University's Chief of Police Normand Gamache.
"While writing these words on cars is foolish, it is not a crime," Gamache said. "It can, however, be a violation of The University Code of Conduct."
In a situation such as this, Gamache says police would first have to speak to the car owner and find when the action took place.
"I think it's disgusting that someone would write that on their car because it really offends people," freshman Thomas Hughes said. "It doesn't matter if you have the right to do it."
Students who have seen the car on campus have different views about the repercussions for the car owner.
"People do a lot of irrational things in life," sophomore Osman Hashmi said. "As long as the person realizes what he or she did was wrong and takes that stuff off the car, I don't think a big issue should be made out of this."
Some students question the safety of the car owner.
"I guess he or she has the right to put stuff on their cars, but I can only think of it hurting the person with the car in the end," freshman Brittany Schon said. "What if they drive outside and some extremely angered individual from outside of our university community decides to do something about it because they thought the kid was serious?"
While the University respects private property and the possession of students, administrators look down upon aforementioned writings on property that is exposed to others on and off campus.
"It is just very unfortunate," Schon said. "If the car owner has anything that shows that he is from South Alabama, it will reflect very poorly on our school."
The South Alabama police ensure that measures will be taken to avoid similar situations in the future.
"It is my understanding that it [words] has been removed," Gamache said.

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