Ralph Nader may have vanished from the political scene, but his name won't vanish from the surface of Old Main.

Look closely. Two months after Election Day, the name of the Green Party's presidential candidate remains etched on the columns of Penn State's administration building in big block letters: "N-A-D-E-R-!".

Efforts to erase it have exacerbated the problem.

"The cleaning solution that we used actually cleaned the columns so that you can still see the words," said Phillip Melnick, assistant director of operations for the Office of Physical Plant.

The writing was tied into an effort by the Campus Greens to get students to vote. Just before Election Day, supporters wrote Nader's name on sidewalks and surfaces around campus in green chalk.

"I bought the chalk," confessed Will Donovan III (senior-letters, arts and sciences), founder of the Penn State Campus Greens.

Donovan said about five other students did the actual chalking, and that writing on Old Main was a spontaneous decision.

"That wasn't a plan; that just happened," he said.

Curiously, the thing that has made the cleaning such a pain is something that Green Party members despise: air pollution.

The Old Main pillars are made of a natural stone material that has gotten stained over time, Melnick said.

"Anytime they're out in the environment, they're going to absorb pollution and dirt," he said.

Twice, OPP crews have tried to clean the letters off the front of the building, Melnick said. The pillars took on a bleached look after workers scrubbed them with a cleaning solution.

OPP reported the damage to Penn State Police Services. Melnick said he is waiting for warmer weather before deciding what to do next.

The answer may be a thorough bath for all the columns.

"We're not sure how far we're going to have to go with it," Melnick said. "We may have to go the whole height of the column."

Donovan said he was glad that the word Nader had lasted so long, and seemed pleased that the pollution might be scrubbed from the pillars.

"We're Greens, we tend to like to have things cleaned up," he said.