The walls of the Free Expression Tunnel are thick with paint. As students pass through on their way to class, hand-painted messages urge them to rush fraternities and sororities or come to club meetings.

John Martin, a graduate student in technical communications, said he and a group of others used the tunnel walls as spaces to promote a benefit concert.

“Free expression to me includes advertising,” he said.

However, some students complain the tunnel is being used for free publicity instead of free expression.

Jeff Ray, a freshman in engineering, is co-founder of a Facebook group entitled, “It’s the Free Expression Tunnel … Not Free Advertising.”

Ray said while walking through the tunnel with a friend, he noticed a lack of artwork.

“We were talking about it [and said] ‘this is kind of crazy. There is absolutely no art in [the tunnel], it’s all fraternity stuff,'” he said.

Ray said although he is not an artist, he walks through the tunnel every day and thinks it is being misused.

He suggested that advertising be restricted to a specific section of the tunnel and noted the presence of bulletin boards around campus designated for publicity.

Steven Varela, a junior in electrical engineering, said he frequently paints in the tunnel as a form of stress relief.

Varela said that while advertisements are common, they have not completely eliminated artwork in the tunnel.

“For every advertisement, [they are] overtaken by art once more,” he said.

Varela said he does not explicitly choose to paint over advertisements and likes to create his artwork in large blank spaces or on top of art he thinks he can “challenge.”

“In graffiti subculture, it is not socially appropriate to cover up someone else’s art unless your art is better than theirs,” he said.

According to Varela, his art typically remains visible in the tunnel for four to five days, or if it’s really nice, up to two weeks.

He said the times when his paintings stay up the longest are when there are no fraternity or sorority rush events going on or when someone really appreciates his work and decides not to paint over it.

In Martin’s case, he said painting in the tunnel did not help draw students to his event.

However, he said he would consider advertising there in the future.

“It was a great team building event for the group,” he said. “We had a lot of fun doing it.”

But, paint is not the only way people advertise in the tunnel.

Local vendors often pass out coupons, while student organizations distribute give-aways and flyers.

These solicitations, however, come at a cost.

According to Deborah Felder, assistant director for Talley Student Center activities, it is required that students and vendors obtain a permit five days before advertising in and around the tunnel.

“They have to complete a solicitation permit request,” she said. “In that request, they have to identify what they’re doing and, in some instances, they have to have sponsorships by [a University] organization or department.”

Felder said that in many cases, off-campus vendors fail to acquire the necessary paperwork.

“Typically, the people passing out coupons do not even have a permit and can be asked to leave,” she said.

According to Felder, there are no constraints on which groups may hand out papers in and around the tunnel, though they must give advanced notice of what they plan to do.

“Nothing in writing [exists] that says you can’t hand out certain things,” she said. “You can give anything away that you want to give away.”