Writing on the Windows

Article: The seven-story canvas

2007-10-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

By Josh Weaver

The abundance of student life that crowds the courtyard of Campus Village at San Jose State University speaks to the diversity of its residents.

Located at the southeast corner of the SJSU grounds, Campus Village opened in 2005 and has become a home away from home for some students.

Around each corner there are signs of student involvement, creativity and artistic expression.

"They're just young and they, you know, are just trying to play around and have fun," said Fransine Lopez, a resident adviser. "They wanna make the place their own."

Taking a moment to scan the exterior of the seven-floor freshmen-complex that is Building C, the writings on the windows tell a different story on each pane.

Whether it’s paper cut outs or removable paint, the decorative symbols and letters are unique to the individual artist.

“If you look outside the window, you can see the ‘I love black people sign,’” said Building C resident Jordan Miller.

Miller, a black student, said that upon returning to his room one day, he noticed that someone had put up an ‘I love white people’ sign in response.

“I don’t know. I thought it was cool—no offense taken by anyone, and most people I talk to think it’s pretty funny.”

Not everyone, however, is fond of the artwork. Some students said they don’t really notice it.
“I think the decorations up there are stupid,” said Mih Nguyen, a resident of Building C. “I don’t really pay attention to it.”

Among the colorful collection of artistry are signs that act as dating advertisements, stating that the occupants of the room are all single, like in the case of Room 619, which reads, “We're single” and “Come to 619.”There are also signs that convey love of the hyphy movement—a music-oriented culture—and some use their windows to represent their heritage by hanging flags of the countries that are close to their hearts.

Other signs simply proclaim the “coolness” of the students living in that particular room.

The only restriction for students who wish to liven up their windows is that their message must not contain vulgar or obscene language that might be deemed offensive by other residents or passersby.

University police department Sgt. John Laws said that there is always the potential for an irrational person to misconstrue the messages.

“That is always possible in the most innocent of circumstances,” Laws said in an e-mail.

“I think that most people would accept the statement for the semi-humorous way it was intended.”

As for Room 619, Laws said that there is no real danger for posting their social availability.

“I don't envision hordes of testosterone-laden freshmen crashing down the doors to the residence hall,” Laws said.

The group of women that occupy Room 619 declined to comment on their Craigslist-like posting.

Slideshow: A look at the writings

2007-10-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Video: Letters in the window

2007-10-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Blog: A behind-the-scenes perspective

2007-10-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

“This will be easy,” I thought. “Students in the dorms will love being on camera.”

My thoughts turned out to be completely wrong when I went out to interview students about the signs on Campus Village windows.

Baby-faced freshmen gave every excuse not to be filmed:

“I’m late.”
“I have something to do.”

Or they just didn’t say anything and walked right on by, feigning tardiness.

I bagged a couple elusive interviews in between slammed doors and weak excuses. I guess freshmen are like people everywhere -- some like to be filmed, while others abhor the idea.

It just seemed like all the camera-shy people were living in the same place.

-- Adam Murphy
Student journalist

Blog: A behind-the-scenes view

2007-10-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Trying to get interviews with students who had writing on their dorm windows turned out to be an interesting experience.

I am fairly outgoing, so I usually don’t have a problem talking to people I don’t know, but for some reason, knocking on students' dorm room doors and trying to get them to talk about the writing on their windows was out of my comfort zone.

I felt like a door-to-door salesman going to each room with my group member Adam as we tried to get students to give us 30-second interviews. Most of the students were surprisingly helpful, but they were also shy about being on camera.

The occupants of one room didn’t want to be interviewed and slammed the door in our faces.

I also found out that trying to get interviews on Friday afternoons in the dorms is not a good idea because most of the students are still asleep -- probably due to partying the night before.

It was also awkward for Adam and I, being two males, to enter into female dorm rooms to try to get interviews. All in all the experience was a good one, even though we had some technical difficulties, which meant that we had to re-interview students.

It made me feel like a real journalist, chasing after a story. It was a great feeling for me.

-- Chris Amarel.
Student journalist