Someone vandalized the second floor of the Learning Commons yesterday around noon to express distaste with Marywood’s Wi-Fi.

The messages, written with a dry-erase marker on several windows and the Grand Staircase leading to the second floor, included the words “Fix the Wi-Fi” on the glass windows and “How can I do any work without Wi-Fi??? Fix the Wi-Fi, Marywood” on a dry-erase table.

Ashlynd Huber, first-year pre-physician assistant major, said she hadn’t experienced any Internet connection problems yesterday.

“I’ve been [in the Learning Commons] all morning, and [the Wi-Fi] has been fine,” she said.

An Office of Information Technology (OIT) employee as well as Tony Spinello, chief information officer, confirmed that no Wi-Fi outages had been reported or recorded in the Learning Commons this morning.

Huber also said she saw who did the vandalism, a male, but she did not recognize him.

Campus Safety Chief Mike Finegan was on the scene within minutes.

“I was just having lunch when I got called,” said Finegan. “This is the first time I’m hearing about this.”

According to Finegan, vandalism is rare on campus. In 2014, there were approximately 25 incidents of vandalism.

“Vandalism does happen on college campuses, but it is not rampant here at Marywood,” said Finegan.

When vandalism does occur, Finegan said Campus Safety looks at security cameras to try to apprehend the culprit. If the damage is significant, a police report is filed. Otherwise, a work order is placed to maintenance. If caught, perpetrators are responsible for the financial cost of the damage.

“If the perpetrator is a student, they are taken through the Campus Judicial Process and a variety of sanctions are imposed,” said Finegan. “Faculty offenders are referred to Human Resources.”

At the very least, a student will have a policy reminder and the maximum punishment is expulsion.

Finegan said that while the damage this morning was minor, it’s still not something he was happy to see.

“We do not want to see any property marred, and this stands out because it is a new building,” he said.

Connor Moffitt and Lindsey Matylewicz contributed to this report.

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