Briggs Residents' Zoo Mural Makes Cabot Officials Roar

Although Cabot House's Briggs Hall is officially scheduled for renovation this spring, some residents have already begun decorating the building's interior.

On January 6, approximately 30 felt-tip pen-armed students decorated the walls of a third-floor--hallway with colorful depictions of such unusual creatures as ants, mushrooms, a zebra, Oscar the Grouch, an octopus, God, and resident tutor Thomas I. Barkin '83.

Outside, on the staircase, a green alligator with red scales quotes a Simon and Garfunkel song proclaiming. "It's all happening in the zoo. I do believe it. I do believe it's true."

It all began when one student drew a large clown to cheer up an exam-wary friend, one Briggs artist said, explaining, "Everyone started drawing."

"In no time at all people from the second and fourth floors were dropping by to add their own creations." A particularly intricate peacock was said to have taken 45 minutes to create.

Cabot House officials discovered the zoo the next morning when a janitor reported it to House superintendent Gene Ketelhohn.

"My first thought was that this was going to be a headache I really didn't need," Ketelhohn said.

"It didn't make sense to bring charges, because the building is due to be renovated," he added, but said, "we can't let it go by, either."

Ketelhohn referred the incident to House Master Myra A. Mayman, who according to House Committee Chairman Benjamin R. Reder '86, chose not to bring the case before the Administrative Board.

Amnesty

Instead, Mayman and Cabot House Senior Tutor Elizabeth A. Hart asked the participants to repaint the hallway. Once the hallway has been repainted, the incident will be "forgotten," Reder said.

He added that he hoped the repainting will be as festive as the decoration. "I've spoken with the hall tutor, and he's given permission for a painting party," Reder added.

Hart said the menagerie must be covered over by February 3, according to a Cabot House junior.

Many Briggs residents will miss the Zoo, students said.

"They are just lucky they're off the hook," said Reder. "Anyway, how long will it take 20 people to paint half a hallway?"

Some of the artists said they looked at "The Zoo" as a protest against the building's relatively poor living conditions. As one hall resident, who requested anonymity, said. "This place is such a pit, it is our duty to liven it up."