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Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

BY SAM DOUGLAS, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Several Mason buildings were spray painted with graffiti on March 5. According to Mason’s police and public safety department’s Daily Crime and Fire Log, Planetary Hall, the Art and Design building, the Johnson Center, Music & Theater building, Krug Hall, Exploratory Hall and Horizon Hall were vandalised. 

The graffiti sported messages such as “Do You Feel Free? I Don’t,” and was reported to campus police at 11:22 p.m. on March 5. The case is listed on the Daily Crime and Fire Log as “pending,” meaning that as of posting, the case is still active and no arrests have been made. 

Days later, two other cases of vandalism were reported to Mason Police. One at Enterprise Hall on March 6 and the other at the Art and Design building on March 7; it is currently unknown if the incidents are connected. On the r/GMU subreddit, one post shared a picture of graffiti at Exploratory Hall, reading “Land of the Free? I Don’t Feel Free” and garnered 524 upvotes on March 6. 

“There’s some graffiti on the building in front of Aquia [Building] that says ‘Let them eat cake,’” one commenter said.

“Imagine risking your college career and a possible felony for some social justice warrior clout on Reddit lol,” another commenter wrote.

This comment possibly referring to similar events that occurred earlier in the academic year. Mason police offered a $2,000 reward after another vandalism event to Wilkins Plaza on Aug. 28, allegedly resulting in a November raid of the home of two students and suspension of the Resident Student Organization Students for Justice in Palestine. Later, the Johnson Center was also vandalised on Sept. 25 in protest to the career fair happening the day of.

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

As of March 17, all doors with graffiti have been repainted over the spring break. 

The Fourth Estate has reached out to the George Mason University Department of Police and Public Safety for further information. There has been no response at the time of the publication of this article.