I was born after the Silent Generation (1925–1942) and before the Baby Boomer Generation (1946-1964) so I was 12 years old in the 5th grade (yes I got left back a few times) when I came across graffiti on a bathroom stall door that displayed sentiments such as "Mary T. gives hand-jobs," or "Principal Wangler is an asshole."

Although I was only 12, I knew two things to be rock true:

1. It was highly unlikely that Mary T. actually gave anyone in my class a hand-job and even more unlikely that she would give me one if I asked.

and
2. Principal Wangler was indeed an asshole (see my article Bruce Willis comes to my High School in Bayonne).

Provided the statements do not threaten the safety or security of anyone at the school and are not etched with a steel scribe and therefore have not permanently damaged property, then what is written should be considered protected speech.

Consider the following article:

College Media Matters, Campus Restroom Graffiti Deserves a Fresh Report

Only GOD can judge me! I eat yogurt. Where words fail, music speaks. Sidewalks are just suggestions. You never realize how shallow your life was until you become a mother. Please let us express ourselves.

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In the photo, the bathroom stall is littered with these random statements, and many more. Altogether, they equal a funny, quirky, and one-of-a-kind glimpse into the minds and moods of students and staff at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

As James Edmonds, a staff writer for The Seahawk student newspaper, argues in a recent op-ed, “The bathroom stalls contain some of the more honest writings of the students on this campus. We do a ton of writing to get through our courses, but all of it is written for someone else with the knowledge that it will be judged. There is no fear of judgment when writing on a bathroom stall because no one will know you wrote it.”