Since the beginning of the school year, Mason property, students, and recently even faculty have been subject to the vandalism and pranks of students. Consequently, the school has spent several thousand dollars to sand the parking lot and replace the cafeteria windows. One teacher now has to pay more than seven hundred dollars for damages to his car. Worse than all of these ill-contrived pranks is the recent incident where a Mason faculty member had a brick thrown threw her window, resulting in eight stitches to her head.

     Several issues arise out of such scandals as these, the most obvious being the question of why students would partake in such reckless and futile behavior in the first place. However there is just as important a matter concerning the students who know who the perpetrators of these pranks are and choose to remain quiet. Maybe it’s to protect their friends, or possibly it’s just a fear of being "snitches," but for whatever the reason, many students have withheld information pertaining to each of these acts of vandalism from the authorities.

     Students obviously think that there is nothing wrong with this, as there are situations where telling on someone is unnecessary, such as when a buddy sneaks a coke into a gym when it’s not allowed. But in a situation where people are laying down large amounts of money and especially when people are getting hurt, there is no such thing as a "snitch." Who is being helped by remaining quiet? Absolutely no one, especially the culprits who get away and will almost surely pull stunts of a similar nature again. Protecting them is condoning their behavior, and is neither the right thing nor the cool thing to do.