I may be in the minority, but I strongly disagree with Brian Stillman in his analysis of the Nick Johnson situation. First, Brian, just because you don’t take the time to enjoy the art on this campus doesn’t mean that other people don’t. The art on this campus is worth much more than $37,000. Plus, it is a part of the campus and is part of what makes Iowa State the university it is.You seem to forget that the head was not just knocked off, but is in several pieces. “This [$1600] should be enough to put the kid’s head back on his shoulders.” There is quite a bit more than just re-assembling the statue. The head has to be put back together.”I bet that most of us have gotten drunk, gone out and vandalized something that we found hilarious at the time.” I want to see something behind that statement. I’m willing to bet that most of the students here have NOT gotten drunk and vandalized something. Plus, being drunk is not an excuse. If you drink so much that you can no longer decide what is right and wrong, you had too much.People argue that the punishment was too heavy. Assuming that the $37,000 is an accurate estimate of the repair costs, this would be equivalent to totaling someone’s new luxury car. If someone on this campus took a sledgehammer and totaledÿyour brand new Mercedes, the response would be much different. However, both of these are instances of someone causing massive amounts of damage to something that they do not own. Nick Johnson does not own the statues. He caused almost $40,000 of damage. Heÿshould count himself lucky to still be walking around free.

Russ Graves

Freshman

Computer engineering