Religion Sale
Spectator Staff
Issue date: 9/15/08 Section: Police Blotter
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At about 4 p.m., an officer arrived at the Campus Mall area in response to a report of an unauthorized vendor selling merchandise by the clock.
The officer found a table by the clock, where people were handing out free copies of a religious book. The author of the book showed the officer a copy of an e-mail from a geology professor stating that handing out the books in such a manner would not be a problem. The officer told the author that a professor did not have the authority to approve his presence. The author then produced a copy of the UW System code to point out that he had not violated any of the rules.
The officer explained to the author that handing out books to those who wish to receive them is not a violation, though he should have requested permission from the university to set up a table. The officer referred him to a University Center employee to do so.
The author said he had been there all day and no one else had spoken to him about the issue. He said he would request permission from the University Center or not bring his table when he returned the following day.
Graffiti removal
Monday, Sept. 8
At 5:10 p.m., an officer arrived in Davies Center after a student manager reported there was graffiti in the bathrooms.
The student manager showed the officer racist remarks scrawled on the inside of a stall door in the men's lower level bathroom. The remarks, as well as a swastika, were written in pen.
The student manager then took the officer to a bathroom on the second floor, where there were unflattering comments about a girl and more racial slurs and symbols written on the stalls. Those appeared to be written in black pen.
The officer photographed the graffiti in both bathrooms. The student manager had already covered the graffiti with white paper and said he planned to contact an on-duty custodian to have the comments removed.