PROVO -- They call it "Red Week," but it might as well be red-eye week for Brigham Young University students Alan Pippin and Colter Paulson.
Pippin, president of the amateur radio club, and Paulson, president of the Intercollegiate Knights, aren't getting much sleep. They help organize a cadre of volunteers who patrol BYU campus in the days leading up to the football game between the Cougars and the University of Utah.Cellophane covers a statue of Brigham Young to discourage red-paint vandals during the football rivalry week.Stuart Johnson, Deseret News
Volunteers spend all night watching statues and warding off would-be vandals wielding red paint at the true-blue Provo school. And then they actually have to attend class the next morning.
"It's one of the most exciting weeks of the year," said ham radio operator Carl Baldwin, who first patrolled campus during football rivalry week in 1992. "It breaks up the monotony of school."
BYU has come to take its anti-vandalism activities seriously. Scores of ROTC cadets patrol the large "Y" on the mountain east of Provo, while radio club members and Intercollegiate Knights are posted at various locations around campus.
Their objective is clear: Ensure a red-free zone.
"You don't want to slack off too much because you'd feel really, really bad if you found out the next morning that they painted a big red 'U' on the stadium while you were there," Paulson said.
This year, University Police took an extra step to protect campus statues such as Brigham Young, Karl G. Maeser and the cougar. Along with signs around campus, they are wrapped in multiple layers of cellophane.
"It speeds the process up and you can also still tell what the statue is supposed to be," said BYU police Lt. Greg Barber.
Perhaps the most enviable job this week is that of the ham radio operator who mans "Net Control" atop the 12-story Spencer W. Kimball Towers. Each operator's shift of several hours consists of surveying the campus and keeping in contact with radio operators at various locations.
The view is spectacular, and a smart ham radio operator brings along a little company.
Already this year, radio operators have spotted freshmen rolling down a campus hill inside garbage cans, and saw a student jump onto the Brigham Young statue for a hug ("I just love Brigham," she is reported to have said).
It's not uncommon for radio operators to happen upon amorous students staying warm on November nights by keeping close to one another and by sitting on top of heat vents.
"I walk around just wondering if this stuff happens every night," Baldwin said.
Student volunteers are given strict instructions not to confront would-be troublemakers but to simply report anything suspicious to police. But some "campus watchers" have been known to don combat fatigues and hide in the bushes while on duty.
But for the one moment of glory after nabbing a suspect, there are dozens of hours of monotonous watching.
"There's action but not very often," Paulson said. "It's fairly lonely."