 "Photo: Tim McDonnell / Arizona Daily Wildcat")
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A UA graduate student was arrested on campus after yesterday’s Arizona for Education Rally and cited on charges of criminal damage and disturbing an educational institution.
His crime: drawing with chalk.
Jacob Miller, a masters student in Geography, was arrested just before 1 p.m., a few hours after he and about 10 other students drew pictures and messages in over 80 locations around campus.
The drawings were part of yesterday’s student rally. Some depicted outlines of bodies with price tags, which rally organizers said were meant to represent the commercialization of higher education.
Associated Director of Facilities Management Chris Kopach said he was contacted by the University of Arizona Police Department and asked to assign maintenance personnel to wash up the chalk drawings.
The process cost about $1,000, Kopach said.
Many of the drawings were washed away by the time the rally began, at about 12:15 p.m., rally organizers said.
An unnamed university employee called police at about 8:30 a.m. to report the chalk drawings, said UAPD spokesman Juan Alvarez.
Miller was charged on two counts of class one misdemeanor, each carrying a maximum penalty of six months in jail and $2,500, plus possible restitution charges for the cleanup, Alvarez said.
Miller’s court date is set for Oct. 14.
Chalk drawings are considered criminal damage because the university has to pay for someone to clean it up, Alvarez said.
Miller said he was arrested sometime after the rally ended at 12:45 p.m. when officers flagged him down outside the Administration Building.
Miller said officers told him they were able to identify him using video surveillance footage.
Miller told the Daily Wildcat his reaction to the arrest was “disbelief, surprise.”
Alvarez said there were more than 80 instances where chalk was applied around campus.
“It wasn’t just applied on the sidewalk. It was applied on other areas and it interferes with the aesthetics of the building.”
The chalk drawings were spread out across campus, Miller said, including in front of both the library and the Administration building. The drawings, he said, were meant to draw peoples’ attention to the important budget cut issue.
Miller said his arrest would likely generate more support for his cause.
“I guess it’ll raise awareness that there was a rally,” he said. “In that sense it’s publicity.”
Stay with DailyWildcat.com for more coverage.
70 comments
I'm starting a chalk cleaning business...
enough money for education?
and in the Arizona Daily Star and Citizen. Is there no more freedom of expression
on the UA Campus?
I would like to offer my services as chalk sidewalk cleaner. For a mere $500 I will clean all the chalk off your sidewalks. Yes, that is correct, for half of what you are currently spending I will take care of your chalk drawing problem. Also, I would like to extend my sympathies to you. For the first time I feel like I truly understand our financial problems. If it takes you $1,000 to clean up chalk it is no wonder that we are having money troubles. So please next time there is chalk you need to get rid of, give me a call.
Your faithful servant,
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