Graffiti Lesson at UCLA Class

In response to “Tag Lines: Two Graffiti Practitioners Profess Their Craft to a Class of UCLA Undergraduates,” Nov. 18:

Unbelievable! Once again The Times goes out of its way to publicize graffiti practitioners. Your article tries to define this illegal practice to the “connoisseur” and the post-Chaka era? Excuse me! This is illegal. Of course, Judith Baca, the visiting professor, wants to “explore the fine line between community sensitivity and censorship.” Ms. Baca, here is the line--it is illegal! We are fed up with this and, yes, we are sensitive to this! And no, this is not censorship!

I suggest Baca should take her community sensitivity and censorship ideas to the people who have to pay hundreds and thousands of dollars to remove this “craft” from their homes and businesses. I believe then she might find that fine line!

Thank goodness these “artists” use “environmentally correct” spray paint as they ruin private property. Please.

KURT KNIPPER

Los Angeles

* Who are the stupid people that want to honor taggers? If you honor them, honor me for furnishing these taggers my building walls for them to practice on and for which I have paid hundreds of dollars to have painted over.

When you honor these jerks, all you do is encourage the others to keep up the good work and improve their artistic ability on our walls, our buses, our telephone booths, our world.

A. STANTON

Los Angeles

* It’s invigorating to see that irresponsible social sentimentality is alive and well at UCLA in the person of visiting instructor Judith Baca, whose stated aim in having two graffiti vandals lecture her class was to explore the “fine line between community sensitivity and censorship.” I suggest the only “fine line” to be drawn where Baca is concerned is the one across her name on the UCLA payroll.

What side is she on, sensitivity’s or censorship’s, where freeway signs made illegible by childish scrawls are concerned? Is she aware of the tremendous costs, public and private, of removing the stuff?

I’d say I’d like to see her home get covered with the puerile spray-paint scribbles of these infantile ego strutters, but she’d probably find it a “vital and life-affirming statement.” And besides, her blighted neighbors would then be forced to either struggle with that fine line between community sensitivity and censorship themselves, or just throw in the towel yet again and become just a little bit more demoralized.

DAVID PATRICK PABIAN

Los Angeles

* It appears that the administration at UCLA just doesn’t get it. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Michael Milken is educating their students, they now include courses on how to damage individual and governmental property taught by admitted criminals.

Do the people we have entrusted our educational system to have such a lack of basic common sense that they would encourage training in how to commit these illegal acts? Is there anybody in the chain of command at our universities who will speak out against these atrocities?

If the state university educational system continues to offer courses such as these, we will all end up paying more taxes for police protection and new jails. Only if the citizens of this state speak out will any positive changes be made. Let’s move California back up to the top of the education list.

MICHAEL L. SHAW

West Hills