TO THE EDITOR:
As a UNC student that has enjoyed a campus where I’ve felt safe for almost four years, I am shocked that anyone would have the audacity to steal art from the Student Union.
UNC’s campus has always felt incredibly safe to me, and an assault on that is an assault on every student’s feelings of security and peace of mind.
To an extent, however, I have to sympathize with these thieves.
Clyde Jones’ critters have inhabited our Student Union for my entire time as a student here, and my relationship with them has undergone a kind of evolution over the years.
At first I was shocked by what appeared to be the work of a gigantic four-year-old, then entertained that UNC’s Student Union would house pieces as strange of those, and then felt general confusion and disbelief at the amount of time they’ve spent here.
Art in the gallery of the Union changes all the time — why not the critters?
Does the Union see something in them that is particularly emblematic of student experience, or does it see some kind of aesthetic beauty that I apparently miss altogether?
Reacting to crime is always difficult and a time of rebuilding, but we can look to this as an opportunity.
