Engineer purpling went too far when the stairs of Goodes Hall were found dyed on the morning of December 15.
Concerned with this act of vandalism, about 13 students rallied to clean the purple stairs incident on their own accord.
“Having the stairs cleaned up, by engineers especially, was extremely important to me but also to the rest of the faculty,” Max Howarth, Sci ’13, told the Journal via email.
Howarth helped in the effort to acquire cleaning supplies during the final period of the clean-up.
Numerous posts could be found on Facebook and Twitter about the incident, which helped raise awareness about the issue.
“Outside of engineering, I think that people were horrified with the vandalism, however, more people were impressed with the effort being put in to clean it up,” Howarth said.
Howarth said the Sci ’16 class, who were at the heart of the clean-up, represented the true values of the Queen’s engineering faculty.
“It made engineers in every … year upset that, as a whole, we would be associated with the acts of a few people,” he added.
Other students supported the cause by bringing Tim Horton’s to the volunteers, Howarth said.
Nicola Plummer, president of the Commerce Society, said she was contacted immediately by Engineering Society President Taylor Wheeler to apologize for any inconvenience. Wheeler failed to respond to multiple requests for an interview with the Journal.
“We were disappointed by the use of gentian violet on the stairs of Goodes Hall,” Plummer, Comm ’13, told the Journal via email. “But we were thoroughly impressed with the quick and effective resolution.”
Plummer said that the AMS Judicial Affairs Office is looking into this matter further.
Benjamin Burger, AMS judicial affairs commissioner, couldn’t comment on whether or not there will be a non-academic discipline case concerning the incident due to confidentiality policies.
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