At 3:30 Sunday morning, Student Body President Jay Dawkins and Student Senate President Pro Tempore Kelli Rogers began to repaint sections of the Free Expression Tunnel after a UNC fan painted remarks about cancer in the tunnel.

The mural of Coach Kay Yow on the tunnel was defaced with a light blue mustache and several phrases were painted on the tunnel wall, including

“Cancer rules, f*** pink, fall forward k-o and life could be worse you could be a cancer patient.”

Students were disgusted by the writings.

Sam Thomas, a sophomore in computer science, said he didn’t have words to describe his emotions.

“This was totally uncalled for,” he said.

Dawkins said the painting of the memorial was hurtful.

Rogers said she couldn’t tell if the author was an actual Carolina student, but the writer was a North Carolina fan.

However, Dawkins, a junior in engineering, said the acts are not representative of the entire UNC campus or fan base, but did say the actions were completely uncalled for.

“The people who said these things have no class. We should encourage rivalry, but above all we are all students and people,” he said.

Thomas doesn’t think that the authors felt the same way.

“This just hits home, it’s more than racist,” he said.

Dawkins said the actions were a result of rivalry that got out of hand.

“What was said was in many ways inhuman. While rivalry is great, this just went too far,” he said.

Rogers, a junior in political science, didn’t realize how difficult it was to make the Yow mural until she had to do repairs to it, saying the people who did it the first time were amazing.

“I really wish I could make it look as pretty as it did before. It frustrates me some idiot had to mess it up,” Rogers said.

The nature of the Free Expression Tunnel, Rogers said, is for students to express their opinions but she wished things like this didn’t happen.

“There is always going to be a jerk who comes through here and write[s] offensive material,” she said.

Both Dawkins and Rogers advised students to do the same thing they were doing — paint over the offensive material with material they want to see.

The remarks written about Yow in the tunnel touched many personally on campus.

“Everyone knows someone with cancer, I myself have seen my sister fight it twice. Seeing ‘cancer rules’ really hits close to home,” Dawkins said.

Throughout the repainting, students came to help after hearing the news.

“I’m glad to see N.C. State students protecting the Free Expression Tunnel by painting over stuff they don’t like,” Rogers said.

Captain John Barnwell of Campus Police declined comment, saying issues relating to the Free Expression Tunnel are a “University issue.”