When the dust settled, students started to smash.
They approached the fallen wall on the Plaza of the Americas and began to throw cinder blocks with phrases like “Treehugger” and “Homos are Sinners.”
The Writing on the Wall project ended Friday when project staff members, watched by a group of about 100 students and faculty, pulled the wall down with ropes.
The project is an annual event in which students paint offensive or taboo words on cinder blocks. Project staff build a wall with the blocks, and the wall is torn down to symbolize the breaking down of barriers between people.
The a cappella group No Southern Accent performed Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World.”
Padma Chamarthy, the director of the project, said it was introduced to UF eight years ago from the University of Utah.
Last year, Chamarthy found a brick she didn’t understand. It read, “I’ll pay.”
Chamarthy said she later discovered the author’s brother had offered to pay for his sister’s abortion.
“It just made me sad for her,” Chamarthy said.
Jamie Sipp, a criminology senior, said he’s felt the pain of being called several of the names painted on the wall.
“Seeing it torn down makes you feel pretty good,” Sipp said. “It makes you feel like you’re not alone.”
Gerri Sterne, a project staff member and graphic design sophomore, said she hopes the project stimulates conversation between people.
Sterne said the project is meant to make a long-term difference, and she doesn’t expect the project to have an immediate effect on students.
