Posted by Andrew Cantor
Sometime late April 8 or April 9, unidentified subject(s) broke into and vandalized seven vehicles parked near the Northwoods Apartments.
The subject(s) smashed windows, ripped off side-view mirrors, and spray painted the cars in light blue paint, spraying "FAG" on one car, according to a Campus Safety report.
Director of Campus Safety Dennis Conway said he does not believe the vandal(s) targeted certain students.
"The students are from all different areas of campus… they're musicians and athletes… the cars are also next to each other," Conway said. "After speaking with the police, the students do not believe they were targeted."
Conway said Campus Safety and the Saratoga Springs Police Department are simultaneously investigating the vandalism. He said a police officer assigned to Saratoga Springs High School investigated if students from town were behind the attack. Conway believes the vandal(s) are from campus.
"I'm fairly confident people on this campus know who did it," Conway said. "If the student code of conduct means anything we should get to the bottom of this."
Conway cited an Oct. 30 incident, when vandal(s) caused $200,000 worth of damage to the Northwoods construction site, as a reason to believe the vandal(s) are college students.
While Conway did not know the cost of damage done this past weekend, he said the damage most likely constitutes felony criminal mischief.
In New York State, damage of 250 dollars is a class "E" felony, and damage more than $1,500 is a class "D" felony.
The vandalism on campus has students questioning their safety in the Northwoods parking lot.
"I'm worried to be in the parking lot at night," Preety Aujla ‘11 said. "I don't know if anyone's targeting me."
The vandalism did not threaten senior Matt Belloise but it did offended him, he said.
"It's ridiculous. First of all, I don't know why they dropped the ‘f' bomb," Belloise said. "Unprovoked destruction is the last thing we need right now, the way things are going at Skidmore this semester. It really makes you think about 2012."
Contact Campus Safety at 518-580-5566 or use the confidential T-I-P-S line from a cell phone at 518-580-8477 to provide any information about the incident.