New Punishment For Vandalism: College Tuition

Heard this on Joe Soucheray's radio show Garage Logic on Monday (or whenever he mentioned it this week)... and found a link to Pair 'o Dice (through a link on Shot in the Dark), and you must check it out. The news story is in the Duluth News Tribune.

Swenson Wants to Offer Scholarships to Vandals

James I. Swenson is the chief financial backer of the new science building at the University of Minnesota campus in Duluth.

Swenson said he and UMD Chancellor Kathryn A. Martin have talked about offering the vandals, who caused $8 million in damages to the new science building November, scholarships to the university.

I recall Souch saying that the building ran about $33 million to build. (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a little more.)

The university said there are no concrete plans yet. "Nobody has discussed this in any formal way," said UMD spokesperson Susan Beasy Latto. "(Swenson) is such a good-hearted man. I'm sure he'd like to see something happy happen."

When Latto says good-hearted she means reckless and stupid.

I know folks who have gone to U of M Duluth... some still have college loans to pay back. Obviously, I've suggested the repay those loans with vandalism. Perhaps I could even try to get tuition for my boy by making a little day trip to Duluth soon.

Moron.

The Strib mentions a little more on the vandals.

...three boys, ages 12 to 14, smashed windows, discharged fire extinguishers, clogged drains and left standing water on three floors...

For crying out loud, their stones haven't even dropped yet and they figured out how to do more than $8 million worth of damage!

Science Daily mentions that there were three kids who confessed (the other was a 13 year-old) and has more on the vandalism.

They drove forklifts into walls, broke doors and windows, threw paint and glue around and opened 30 faucets on the third floor, causing a majorflood.

Sounds a little more severe than the vandalism in the Strib story, huh?