2008 Woodie Awards
Yard signs attracting more than support
Elizabeth Enke
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: News
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On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 27, former UMD student Jamie Tupper had three young men vandalize her yard because they did not agree with the campaign signs present on her property.
Tupper sent out an e-mail informing Chancellor Kathryn A. Martin and others at UMD about the incident and how she felt disrespected and disgusted with the UMD community.
In the e-mail, Tupper said that the three young men had knocked down part of her fence, and when she confronted them, she felt disrespected.
Tupper noted that the young men insulted her by calling her an inappropriate name and flicked her off.
"I thought that in the United States the ability to vote for whom you like is your choice and a right," said Tupper in her e-mail. "I do not go around destroying planters with campaign signs in them or damaging fences with campaign signs on them, like anti-McCain supporters have done to my house."
Even though these three men who participated in the act do not represent every student, staff or faculty member at UMD, it seems as though community members, such as Tupper, are forming a different perception of the university.
"I think UMD needs to stop teaching conservative hate and liberal superiority," Tupper said in her e-mail. "I have no respect for any person that feels they are superior because of their political views."
Lt. Anne Peterson of the university police talked with Tupper about the event.
"She was upset that these people had not only damaged her fence but insulted her when she tried to talk to them," Peterson said.
Peterson said that Tupper called the police and they caught up with a couple of guys, but they were not the ones who damaged her property.
"The people that she saw doing the damage had UMD t-shirts on," Peterson said.
According to Peterson, vandalism will most likely be considered a misdemeanor. The fines are determined by a judge and vary by the amount of damage caused.
Even though this incident was assumed to have been done by UMD students, Peterson believes that UMD students are automatically associated with the term 'college students' in the community.
"A lot of times we don't know who did it," Peterson said. "I think there's an assumption that it's UMD students, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the case. Particularly in this city, there are other college-age people around, other college educational institutions. Not everybody out in the city is a UMD student."
Tupper was contacted by the UMD Statesman but failed to respond for further comment.
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