When I moved to Hobbs Hall, I never expected to be attending a hall meeting to discuss vandalism, let alone the vandalism of a Safe Zone sign. From the response, I do not believe my fellow residents did either.

I cannot believe that someone could walk into my community within a community and destroy a symbol of acceptance. I was shocked to hear that a Safe Zone sign on the second floor of Hobbs Hall had been vandalized repeatedly, including burning the sign. When I saw “vandalism” on the list of discussion topics for our hall meeting, I expected to talk about people erasing white boards and ripping the plastic wrap off of a bedbug- infested couch.

That being said, I feel our community responded well. We had a productive meeting, where we discussed the ramifications of the destroyed Safe Zone sign.

This behavior is unacceptable. In light of the recent suicides in the GLBTQA community, the destruction of a symbol of acceptance is particularly offensive. Not only is this act damaging to the resident whose sign was destroyed, the entire community within Hobbs is affected. We are left wondering how an event like this could have taken place in our community.

I am proud of how my community is responding to the vandalism in our home. We want people to know that destroying Safe Zone signs is not okay. As a group, we want to become more involved in showing our acceptance of members of the GLBTQA community. We want people to know that this is our community, and everyone should feel safe here.