Students Continue to Respond to Graffiti Ban
It has been a little over a month since the Presidential Council on Campus Climate (PCCC) issued the new policy banning graffiti from all restrooms at Reed College. Since then, the student body has spoken out with varying opinions of support and opposition for the graffiti ban. Many students have noted that graffiti has long been a large part of Reed’s campus culture, with community members often using restroom graffiti as a medium to freely express their views on a variety of topics. In addition, many students have been confused by the removal of wall graffiti seemingly throughout the entire GCC basement, not only the restrooms.
Although many student responses have been clearly seen and echoed throughout campus, some acts of protest have been quickly cleaned up and swept under the rug. On the night of October 10, 2025, a large act of graffiti was discovered in the GCC basement around 10pm consisting of many posters with messages such as “Censored by the royal decree of the PCCC” wheatpasted on the walls spanning from the Student Publications Office to the staircase leading upstairs. The graffiti was discovered by Community Safety Officers around 10pm, and was entirely removed by the next morning by Reed’s custodial staff.
Incidents like these have sparked more confusion and conversations within the student body. Many student opinions have been shared using the weekly Missed Connections as a forum for anonymous expression. Some have expressed outrage with statements like “Soooooooo we're going to lose our shit about the graffiti ban right?” Others have questioned whether or not the graffiti ban will actually be an effective solution to reducing hateful and biased acts in the Reed community, calling it a “non solution,” and pointing out that it could be both “bad and good [...] because admin is taking concrete action to prevent people from spouting racist bullshit” while also noting that “that doesn't mean that racist assholes aren't going to vandalize other areas.” This same commenter also pointed out a deeper cause to the issue of acts of hate, stating that “admin thinks that the graffiti is the problem when it's actually systemic racism which is deeply embedded in our brains, social interactions, and institutions.”
An anonymous student, referred to as Student M (she/her ‘27), was interviewed to give her perspective on specific acts of rebellion as well as the graffiti ban’s impact on Reed culture as a whole. Student M brings a unique perspective to this conversation, as she started as a Reed student in 2018 before taking a leave of absence in 2021 and eventually dropping out, though she returned as a junior this fall. Because of these unusual circumstances, she has been able to provide a special viewpoint as an individual who has been able to engage with Reed culture in two separate but close eras.
Student M notes that although there have been changes to the Reed community, she does not notice huge differences in intra-student community and culture. She says that she “thinks Reed tends to attract a certain type of person and that has never really changed. That being said, there are for sure some differences that seem to just be a reflection of the metamorphosis of our generation.” Notably, she believes that “the relationship between student and admin has always been strained,” but that “Reed fosters an environment for students to express themselves and assert their needs.”
My conversation with Student M led us to the specific discussion of graffiti, and her thoughts on the impact of the restroom graffiti ban. She shared that during her long tenure at Reed and in the Reed community, “graffiti on campus has always been of large cultural significance” and even that “it was one of the characteristics of Reed that made [her] attend in the first place.” Student M has been able to watch graffiti and student expression grow and change over the past seven years, stating that “it catalogues the student body as each year progresses, and is a valuable accumulation of student engagement and ethos.”
In conclusion, many students like Student M have expressed their feeling that “the graffiti ban is a little ridiculous” and that “graffiti is an act against policy [and] establishment [so] the only thing the ban takes from the students is their ability to express themselves.” With the rapid removal of acts of graffiti even outside of bathrooms, like that of the wheatpasted posters, students may feel that they are losing the ability to connect with each other and that custodial staff is working overtime to crack down on newly banned graffiti. Despite acknowledging the ongoing tension between admin and the student body, when shown a photo of the wheatpasting event, Student M cheekily commented, “it’s pretty sick [...] we are sooooooo BACK babey.”