Senior Sam Wallis may have won the election for the Tufts Community Union (TCU) presidency last spring, but — according to a few sidewalks on campus — his campaign is still ongoing.
Wallis's campaign team advertised with spray chalk on a number of sidewalks throughout campus during the elections. Since then, repeated attempts to remove the chalk have failed outside certain buildings, including Robinson and Pearson Halls.
Wallis's campaign team thought spraying would save time and the chalk marks would disappear soon after the election, Wallis said. The bottle of spray chalk, he explained, indicated that all chalk marks would fade within two to three weeks of use.
"We thought it would be a convenient solution. Turned out otherwise," Wallis said.
The administration and the Department of Facilities Services initially thought that the chalk was graffiti, Adam Weldai (LA '10), Wallis's campaign manager, said. University officials quickly contacted the students in the campaign.
"We talked to the university about it extensively, and we showed them the bottle of spray that clearly said it was washable," Wallis said. "They were surprised too that it wouldn't wash out."
Vice President for Operations Dick Reynolds said the spray chalk was inaccurately advertised.
"In fairness to the students from Sam's campaign, the problem was a failure of truth in advertising," Reynolds said. "The spray can did indicate the chalk would wash off with rain or in ‘x' weeks. So all is forgiven."
Starting this semester The Office for Campus Life (OCL) has forbidden the use of spray chalk for student organization advertisements. OCL's posting policy on its website now reads, in bolded italics, "No spray chalk of any kind is allowed!"
Facilities launched attempts to wipe away the chalk almost immediately after the students used it, Reynolds said.
"We spent two weeks and several thousand dollars with a graffiti removal company trying to get it off," Reynolds said. "What you're still seeing is whatever the graffiti specialist could not remove even with high-powered steam and whatever else he used."
Weldai said that campaign members were excited to try this kind of chalking, seeing it as a convenient way to spread awareness.
"At one of our meetings, a campaign member said they had heard of spray chalk," Weldai said. "We thought it was a fantastic idea. We looked up brands online, thought it was brilliant. How come no one had used it before? We were revolutionaries."
In hindsight, Wallis said, the campaign regretted the use of the chalk.
"It was an honest mistake by members of our team," Wallis said. "I feel very bad about it. I can't wait for it to disappear."
Weldai agreed.
"In every presidential campaign, there seems to be a goofy issue," Weldai said. "And this became our goofy issue."
Students left angry messages on Wallis's campaign website thinking the campaign damaged campus property, according to Weldai. "We had to put up posters to say it was just spray chalk," he said.
"People thought we were trying to graffiti the campus," Wallis said.
Weldai said that senior Lauren Levine, the opposing candidate, employed hair spray over regular chalk to postpone wash-off from rain, a move he called "brilliant."
Tufts' Elections Commission (ECOM) Public Relations Director Will Yu said that ECOM received complaints from students about the Wallis campaign's spray chalk and Levine's use of hair spray.
"There was a big reaction from students," said Yu, a sophomore. "But there was no technical breaking of rules. [The campaigns] used their own money to buy the hair spray and spray chalk and went through the proper channels to do it."
Reynolds said he hopes students will adhere to the new rules in the future.
"I would like to make clear that there is no problem with students using good old-fashioned stick chalk," Reynolds said.
