Vandalism was not the reaction Margaret Sloss Women’s Center staff expected to receive after building a wall that encouraged the Iowa State community to consider a world without violence.

However, that is exactly what it has encountered during the last few days of this week’s celebration, Week Without Violence.

Boards posted to celebrate the week were tipped over, and inappropriate and sometimes violent messages were written on them.

Some examples of the messages are “Women will only be on top during sex,” “The Walrus was Paul” and “I like supreme pizza.”

“It reinforces the message that we don’t live in a violence-free world,” said Judy Dolphin, executive director of the ISU-Ames YWCA. “It’s evident from the disrespect and destruction of the board that in our society we need this message.”

Members and volunteers of the center posted huge boards Monday outside of Curtiss Hall. The boards asked people to imagine what a world without violence would be like. People could write their comments on the boards.

The wall was the Sloss Center’s major effort for the Week Without Violence. The Week Without Violence is a nationwide event sponsored by the ISU-Ames YWCA.

Pam Thomas, coordinator of the center, said she noticed inappropriate comments on the boards Wednesday. She said some of the comments were just silly or weren’t related to the Week Without Violence, but some even were hateful.

“To me, [the comments] would characterize a level of immaturity and ignorance I would not attribute to college students,” Thomas said.

She said members of the Sloss House are disappointed because the vandalism of the wall minimizes the seriousness of violence.

“What saddens me particularly is that whoever did this has really made a mockery of all of that our country has been through in the last year and a half, with people like James Byrd and Matthew Shepard,” she said.

Thomas said the board offered people a way to counter violence in our society. “[The graffiti and vandalism] discounted the ability for individuals to make a change, even if it’s a small change,” she said.

Thomas said center officials decided to leave the wall up to show the attitudes on campus. “People need to know what people will do anonymously,” she said. “It can be the basis of hate crimes. All kinds of evil will come out.”

Randy Jackson, Sloss House men’s outreach coordinator, helped build the wall. He said the destruction shows that violence is present at ISU.

“Just because we’re at a university doesn’t mean we’re isolated from ignorance and small-minded people,” he said.

The Week Without Violence ends Saturday, but Brent Scarpo, producer of the documentary “Journey to a Hate-Free Millennium,” will speak Wednesday about actions against violence.

Sloss House officials want to keep the wall up until then.

Kathleen Adams, graduate assistant at the center and co-chairwoman of the Week Without Violence, said part of the wall needs to be rebuilt. The center is looking for groups or volunteers willing to help.

“We offer this challenge to the campus for those who want to take a stand against violence,” she said.