UTM student Kevin Teets’ “Writing on the Wall” project, sponsored on campus from Nov. 6-11, 2004 as part of the university’s first Diversity Week, received first place in the Co-Curricular Awards Category at the recent Annual American Democracy Project ­ South Conference.

Teets’ project was selected first in a field of seven projects. A symbolic “wall of hate,” 10 feet tall and more than 35 feet wide, was constructed on campus as part of the Writing on the Wall Project, designed to symbolize a dramatic shared community experience of taking personal action to confront human rights atrocities and acts of oppression in society.

The wall was covered with epitaphs of hatred painted by students to represent labels that serve to divide society and to draw attention to the barriers that separate society. At the conclusion of Diversity Week, the wall was torn down by students, faculty and staff to symbolize the destruction of hate and violence.

Teets said he saw the project successfully achieved at another university, modified the idea to fit UTM and implemented it here. “It was an honor to be recognized for putting together the project,” Teets said, “but I thank the university community for their ongoing support of projects related to muliculturalism and pluralism. Writing on the Wall would not have been successful without the student participation we enjoyed.”

The “Writing on the Wall” project was sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Student Government Association and Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.