It's worse enough that someone slashed the tires on university vehicles, but when you mess with "Frog Baby" that's even further over the line.
Four days after about 15 Ball State University vehicles had their tires slashed, the University Police Department is still conducting an investigation to find out the person or people who committed these acts. However, the search for who defaced "Frog Baby" during the weekend was as skimpy as the pink chalk bikini drawn on the beloved campus icon.
It is completely understandable that the university is more concerned about the tires that need to be replaced because their sidewalls were sliced, instead of the chalk clothing that was washed off "Frog Baby" with Monday's rain. Ball State will probably have to spend more than $1,000 getting new tires for its vehicles, some of which still remain permanently parked with deflated tires in the Arts and Journalism Building parking lot as of Wednesday night.
Whether the person's motive for slashing these tires was to get back at Parking Services or trying to save the auto industry by forcing Ball State to buy new tires is unknown. With the investigation still going on the only thing we can conclude is that those actions benefited no one - least of all the university.
The university must be so concerned with finding who slashed these tires that it can't allocate the enormous manpower it would take to sit down to look at the footage from the video camera near "Frog Baby."
Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said the cameras in the area are used more for theft prevention than to catch people chalking the little statue.
Defacing "Frog Baby" with washable chalk is not the worst crime ever committed. It isn't even the biggest crime committed on campus last weekend with the tire slashing.
However, the university's reaction to this crime is even more puzzling.
Every year "Frog Baby" is decorated. During the winter months it is not uncommon to see her in a scarf and hat. The people performing these acts are not hardened criminals who should be expelled from campus.
There is a large difference between putting clothes on an statue and drawing it. If the person or people had used paint or markers instead of chalk one of the symbols of Ball State would have been scarred.
What is the point of the university having a security camera near "Frog Baby" if it doesn't plan to use it when the little gal gets defaced? This lack of action shows either the university does not care about minor things happening to a staple of its campus or that it has no intention to ever check the film in this camera.
Yes, the bikini on "Frog Baby" gave everyone a few laughs and this is not as serious a crime.
The lack of action from the Ball State, though, should have "Frog Baby" fearing what could be next.
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