Members of the Rose-Hulman Community awoke to find an email early Wednesday morning from our President, Dr. Samuel F. Hulbert: “I sincerely regret to inform you that someone has vandalized the Cecil Lobo Memorial.”

Dr. Cecil Lobo was a very active professor. All the alumni, students, and faculty knew of him, and respected him. To some a mentor, to most a friend; Lobo spent 34 years of his life bettering the students at Rose-Hulman. After his unfortunate passing, many Rose students continued one of his most progressive ideas: to construct a statue that illustrated all the possible joints one could make by using theories of Civil Engineering. He wanted this statue to be aesthetically pleasing and something of which all the students could be proud. Many students showed their pride for the sculpture through the amount of time they spent working on it. Sixty-five different students spent hours cutting, shaping, and welding the 154 different pieces together. Eighteen others constructed the foundation. Gary Pool, a senior civil engineer, instrumental in the design and construction of the foundation, expressed, “Many people have put innumerous hours into the construction of this memorial. To see it vandalized really makes me wonder who would want to discredit our institution.”

So what was the vandalism? Simply the words “Rose sucks.” To someone from outside the Rose society, this might not seem to be a contemptuous exercise, but to someone as involved as our President himself, this seemed the worst possible of all evils.

“Maybe it just looks like a piece of metal to somebody, but to all of those who are still here who had professor Lobo in class, it really meant a lot to him.” Dr. Hulbert, being such a close friend to Dr. Lobo, was deeply concerned. But probably hit hardest of all were the students who were so close to this kind man. Upon the dedication ceremony, many alumni, family, friends, and students alike showed to witness this man’s dream. After this vile act, these same people were involved in the clean up efforts. Fortunately, there is no longer the spray-painted scar of vandalism on this memorial, only the memory of Dr. Cecil Lobo, such a great man to so many people.

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