The Reserve Corridor in Baker Library, home of Jose Clemente Orozco's famous mural, is also home to some less-renowned works of art.
The 13 tables in the Reserve Corridor are covered with myriad colorful and expressive graffiti including song lyrics, notes, caricatures and intricate sketches.
Over the years, students have used the table tops to express nearly everything and the desks are covered with countless doodles and messages.
A large portion of the graffiti refers to Greek life at the College, and every house ranging from Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity to Zeta Psi fraternity is represented on the tables.
David Ford '97 said he really does not mind the graffiti. "I look at it as people getting bored and looking for something to do," he said.
"I have seen some kind of interesting stuff in there about people in my fraternity, and that is always interesting."
Lyrics are also a popular way for students to express themselves, and various artists are quoted, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Eagles to the Beach Boys.
Students also use the table to express their concerns.
Messages like "I need housing," "I can't write my paper," "I need a girlfriend" and "I hate French" appear on the tables.
In some cases, the Reserve Corridor graffiti apparently serves as a way for students to procrastinate.
"Finals suck!!! Bio 23, Physics 3. It doesn't get much worse than this," one student wrote.
"Orgo 52, Bio 15, Econ 22," another added.
Sports was also a prevalent theme and everything from football and baseball to cross-country and novice crew was mentioned.
Drug references appeared frequently on the tabletops as well.
"I want to get high," one student wrote.
"Reality is for people who can't face drugs," wrote another.
Many of the comments were just interesting commentaries on the College, such as "Dartmouth is the last male bastion on earth."
One student asked the ultimate question: "God loves you no matter what -- even if you sleep with his wife?"
"No areas of the campus contain as much graffiti as the Reserve Corridor," according to Assistant Director of Facilities Services Bill Hochstin.
The College, usually strict when it comes to the defacement of its property, follows a slightly more liberal policy regarding graffiti in the reserve corridor.
"To some extent, we are forced to ignore it since it would be too time consuming and costly to scrub the tables every night," Hochstin said. "Usually we remove graffiti as soon as we see it, but in the Reserve Corridor graffiti goes beyond our ability to clean it," he added.
Hochstin estimated that Facilities, Operations and Management spends between 20 and 25 hours each term cleaning the graffiti on the Reserve Corridor desks, in addition to the one hour spent each night washing the tables down and removing debris from them.
The tables are thoroughly scrubbed once each term, and one or two tables are chosen to be refinished every year.
Hochstin said he does not think the graffiti ends up costing the College very much since Facilities, Operations and Management does not go out of its way to remove it.
"We just try to keep a good working area for the students; some find the graffiti interesting," Hochstin said.
But Jen Blair '99 said she is not partial to the decoration.
"I think it is kind of disgusting. I am surprised that Dartmouth students would destroy tables like that," said Blair, who frequents the reserved corridor to study.
But John Fowler '99, said he was indifferent to the creative art all around him.
"It really doesn't bother me that much," he said.
Reactions to the graffiti vary among the staff of Baker Library, according to Charles Scott, administrative services specialist to the library .
"There are 150 people on the staff of Baker Library and there are probably 150 different opinions on the graffiti," Scott said.
"Administratively, there have been no complaints, so I don't feel that there is much of a need for us to do anything," he said. "Unless there is a screaming need to clean it, there is no need to take action."
"It appears that students use [the tables] as a blank page to express themselves," Scott said. However, "maybe they should be reading instead," he added.
