It's a situation familiar to all students, whether they have done it themselves or have simply seen it in classrooms. We all know we're not supposed to do it -- it is, after all, considered defacement of property -- yet, by the looks of the desks, chairs and even the walls in some rooms, that isn't enough to stop the bored student from leaving a mark. For instance, the back of a chair in room 75 Willard reads "bored" and "M E 412 sucks."

The wall of a second-floor classroom in Electrical Engineering West Building displays academic advice -- "Come to class drunk" -- and mind-challenging riddles -- "What's the difference between a microwave and Michael Jackson?"

Sarah Kathryn Simmons (junior-marketing) is a confessed desk doodler. When her mind wanders in class, she finds herself doodling her name on the desk or reading what others have written.

"People do it out of boredom, when you don't want to pay attention in class," she said. "Or they do it out of habit, like when I'm on the phone, sometimes I'll do it."

Drawing or writing nondescript figures is a habit that is common to all people, said Mary Anne Knapp, a clinical social worker and staff therapist at Counseling and Psychological Services.

"Everyone does it. I doodle myself sometimes in the margins of my notes. Even in our staff meetings, I see it," she said. Knapp added that students probably do it "to appear alert, like they are taking notes, or to keep themselves awake when bored."

The desks most often adorned with doodles seem to be those in large lecture halls, such as in the Forum or Sparks buildings, Justin Hanuska (senior-Spanish and Russian) said.

Doodling occupies the idle mind of the doodler as well as anyone who sits at that desk for semesters to come. It can also serve as a method of communication between individuals who share the same sitting space in different classes.

For example, one desk in the E. E. West classroom contains an entire conversation about love, with at least four different styles of handwriting contributing to the ongoing discourse:

"Love sucks."

"[Expletive] love."

"Hang in there."

"Why so bitter?"

"Sick of lies."

"Boys lie a lot."

"You can't handle the truth; that's why."

While writing on desks is a form of graffiti and therefore can be considered defacement of property, "it is also expressive of something else," Amitava Kumar, associate professor of English and cultural studies, wrote in an e-mail message. "At its best, it is also art," he said.

He said desk graffiti is more varied and stylized than graffiti found elsewhere, such as in the stalls of public restrooms.

"I always read the graffiti on desks with great interest," he said. "What you see is the result of an accumulation of signs over years."

As shown by the walls in classrooms, those signs include everything from tic-tac-toe games to song lyrics. Whether they constitute art, vandalism or something in between is in the eye of the beholder.