Graffiti Class Draws Fire From Vallone

Parsons The New School for Design can expect a call from anti-graffiti crusader Peter Vallone Jr., a City Council member of Queens who this week introduced new legislation targeting graffiti vandals.

Students in the school's popular Geek Graffiti class will not be breaking any laws as a result of coursework, "but we will be thinking very hard about what could be possible if we did," a Web site for the class states. Students are not expected to implement their projects in the city, "but are required to justify where, why, and how they would ideally exist."

The class is offered to students in the Masters of Fine Arts Design and Technology program and allows students to create conceptual projects using computer technology. "An example of this would be ephemeral, outdoor digital projections," a description of the course provided by an official from The New School says.

Graffiti students are given an automatic A for the semester if they earn a mention on local television news, in New York newspapers, or appear on certain Web sites.

"Graffiti, unlike the rest of the art world, is very honest and up front about its interest in fame," the site says. " We will do the same."

The course instructor, Evan Roth, did not respond to an e-mail request for an interview and an associate director of arts communications, Deborah Kirschner, said she was unable to reach him yesterday and would not comment on the class.

Mr. Vallone said he considers the language on the class site an invitation to break the law.

"He'll be giving his students As, but we'll be giving them A misdemeanors," Mr. Vallone said. He is going to contact Parsons to complain about the course, he said.

This is not the first time Mr. Vallone has introduced anti-graffiti legislation. An earlier bill that passed in the council was successfully challenged in 2006 by seven art students represented by a First Amendment attorney, Daniel Perez. The fashion designer Marc Ecko backed the lawsuit.

The law would have forbidden 18- to 20-year-olds from purchasing or carrying broad-tipped markers or spray paint, which the students who brought the suit use in their work.

Mr. Perez noted that much of Mr. Vallone's new bill is virtually identical to the law struck down in federal court.

"I'm almost speechless that he would even propose this to the council, and I hope he tells the council before he gets them to vote for it that this bill has already been struck down as unconstitutional," he said. "Go back to the drawing board and try again."