Perceptions of the Pit

Question: What are the different signs and symbols that each student individually associates with the pit, how do those signs and symbols affect the comfort level that each student feels within the pit, and should there be boundaries placed around the expressions of certain signs and symbols?

            Introduction: At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, signs and symbols are everywhere! There are tangible signs, such as food or informational papers and boards, which serve as a visual aid for visitors as well as a communication medium for organizations. There are also many perceived signs, those symbols made up of the natural landscape instead of paper and ink, which serve as a representation of the area and even an attraction for visitors. Together these different signs and symbols exist on campus in order to define this landscape for the community. For our first fieldwork project, we decided to measure these different signs and symbols and their affect on students’ comfort level within an area of campus called “The Pit”.

            Methodology: The Pit is a social area located in the center of campus. It is a common place for clubs to attract new members, friends to eat lunch, and especially, a place where the enactment of the First Amendment is exercised to its full capacity. In order to answer our complex question, we decided to visit this area with a survey to find out how students on campus view the pit and its many signs and symbols. We asked students sitting in or around the pit and attempted to make the survey as random as possible. Our pool ended up consisting of 6 male freshmen, 2 male sophomores, 8 male juniors, 4 male seniors, 10 female freshmen, 4 female sophomores, 5 female juniors, and 1 female senior, making our survey pool consist of 40 interviews. Our interview asked the following questions: gender, year, comfort level in the pit, signs and symbols associated with the pit, identification of the pit, and whether certain levels of expression should be restricted in the area. In order to account for the vast amount of people that can be found in the pit throughout the day, we decided to hand out the survey at three different times of the day. We conducted our survey at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. By following this process, we hoped to find out what visual and perceived signs were most recognized within the pit, how they affected an individual’s comfort level, and in the end, address a larger urban question. This question being whether there exists a correlation between the abundant signs and social interactions associated with the central city and the different comfort levels people feel within the city.  

Signs and Symbols: The Pit is an area located in the very heart of campus. It is the area surrounded by Lenoir Dining Hall, the Student Store, the Undergraduate Library and the Student Union. Everyday one can see clubs “pit-sitting” in order to advertise, students studying on the stairs, friends eating lunch or just socializing, or an organization utilizing its right to free speech. Most recently this utilization of free speech has included a fire safety organization, a Jenna Six protest group, and the very popular “pit preachers”. In order to sort through these different components of the Pit and find which of these symbols people most associated with the area, we asked them a question in our survey. The question was intentionally open ended and, in analyzing our information, we found that the top three responses were socializing, clubs, and preachers. The other responses included food, nature, crowds, studying and painted signs. This was quite interesting because the top three of those listed are non-textually perceived signs instead of actual constructed signs. The students in the Pit exemplify a greater association of the Pit with the actions and processes that are happening around them, rather than those signs and symbols that designate the Pit as an area of actual advertisement and information.

Comfort Level: The next part of our complex question addressed the individual’s comfort level within the Pit, as a result of the signs and symbols. We asked in our survey for the individuals to rank their comfort level within the pit, with 1 being the most comfortable and 5 being the least comfortable. The average comfort level was found to be 2.35. In order to make a correlation between comfort level and the different signs and symbols we referred back to our survey results. We found that those individuals who ranked their comfort level within the pit as a 1 or 2 most often associated fun and non-threatening signs with the pit. For example, on one survey the individual ranked their comfort level as a 1 and associated the signs of food, laughter, and socialization with the pit. However, another individual who ranked their comfort level as a 4 associated large crowds and intimidating pit preachers with the pit. Those individuals who expressed that they feel less comfortable in the area associated more threatening signs with the pit. By conducting our survey we were able to see that the pit is a common area for many types of people and that their comfort level within the area varies with how they personally perceive the different signs and symbols that make up the pit as a cultural landscape. Our results may be slightly skewed due to the fact that our surveys were dispersed to students within the Pit.  Students found in the Pit would tend to be more comfortable because they have chosen to be there.

Boundaries on Expression: The final aspect of our complex question deals with the question of whether there should be some restrictions on the expression that takes place in the pit. Recently this has been a popular topic around campus because of the infamous “pit preachers”. These men have come numerous times to the pit in order to preach what some have felt to be an offensive message. Despite the fact that many wrote on their surveys that they felt less comfortable in the pit because of these preachers, an overwhelming majority of the responses said that there should be no restrictions within the pit. From those surveys with a comfort level of 1 to those with a 5, the vast majority said that the pit should be completely open to all types of free speech, no matter how offensive.

Conclusion: By analyzing the effect that signs and symbols within the pit have on each individual and their specific comfort levels, we were able to see that those who felt less comfortable within the area almost always noticed the threatening and less appealing signs and symbols. Those who felt completely comfortable in the pit embraced the area and associated signs that are welcoming and fun. The average comfort level was a 2.35 which is a relatively high comfort level. This is easily understood considering that the top two signs associated with the area were socializing and clubs, two very non-threatening signs. Despite the large amount of individuals who did feel uncomfortable within the pit, the majority still felt that there should be no amount of restriction on the expression in the area. The information obtained by our observation can help us understand life in the central city, an area of social interaction like the pit, except on a much larger scale. The city can reflect signs and symbols of attraction and excitement to some people or signs of intimidation and overwhelming crowds for others. Many times one’s response to such signs can affect whether people live within the city or in more rural areas. In conclusion, the way in which we perceive an area by its signs and symbols reflects our comfort level within the area and the amount of time we choose to spend there.  

1. Check out this "Pit-cam" to see The Pit at any time of day

http://its.unc.edu/resnet/webcams/pitcam/

2. Click on this link to read a Daily Tar Heel article concerning freedom of speech in The Pit.

http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007/03/09/University/Police.Remove.Pit.Preacher-2770182.shtml

3. To see descriptions and pictures of other open spaces on UNC-Chapel Hill's campus

http://www.fpc.unc.edu/CampusMasterPlan/Campuswide_Design_Guidelines/Open_Space_Types.pdf

This first map displays the Pit from an aerial view. The area specifically outlined in black is the actual pit that dips below the level of the surrounding paths. For the purpose of this research, The Pit area is defined as this space within the black outline and the surrounding brick area enclosed by the buildings on all four sides.




This map is a section taken from the classic campus map of UNC-Chapel Hill. The Pit is represented in a smaller scale so that one can see much more of the environment that The Pit is located in. The Pit (or the area specified by the red rectangle with a yellow star)is fairly centrally located on campus. This map allows one to see how The Pit fits into the many pedestrian paths taken by students everyday.




The following two maps are drawn by hand from the perspective of a student. Like an exercise we did in class where we had to draw a map of our interaction on campus, this map is how a student envisions the space he inhabits. The second hand-drawn map includes some labels of the most popular signs and symbols students associated with The Pit in our survey and displays where they are commonly located.





Hand-drawn maps by Anwar Harris

September 21st was our primary day of field research. We set out with 40 surveys to be filled out by students located in the Pit at various times of the day. We did not choose to get all of the surveys filled out at one specific time because that may have caused skewed results. For example, students located in the Pit around noon may primarily associate it with food because that is why they are there. Rather, our group members got surveys filled out during morning classes(9:00-9:30am), mid-day classes (12:00-12:30), and during afternoon classes (4:00-4:30). We hope that this dispersion may minimize error and only time periods during the day were chosen because these times are when signs and symbols are most visual. 20 of our surveys were filled out by males while the other 20 were filled out by females. 

The following represents the distribution among grades of our surveys:

Male
Freshmen- 6
Sophomore- 2
Junior- 8
Senior- 4

Female
Freshmen- 10
Sophomore- 4
Junior- 5
Senior- 1

This distribution may provide you with a stronger sense of what age demographics tend to visit the Pit more frequently.

Food Advertising



Advertising for food in the nearby Lenoir dining facilities




Students Studying



Informative Signs



...and even students studying while leaning on such signs



Students painting the signs



Promotional sign for Student Government



So many textual signs



Some textual signs touch on controversial issues



Tour Groups




Students socializing or walking through the area



Pit Preachers and the spectators they draw



We even saw someone climb up the tree in the middle of the Pit

Convening in the center of The Pit to begin surveying at 2:00pm





Stancell approaches our first willing subject






Brian takes a short break





Anwar trying to give out surveys





Brian collecting data from a group of students





Anwar....still trying

Sarah Saul (blogger) - Ssaul@email.unc.edu

Stancell Haigwood (communicationer) - Haigwood@email.unc.edu

Brian Scott (blackboarder) - Bcscott@email.unc.edu

Anwar Harris (research coordinator) - Harrisap@email.unc.edu

The questions we have developed for our interviewing process are as follows:

1. Circle one: Female/Male
2. Circle one: Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior
3. On a scale of 1-5 (1=most comfortable and 5= least comfortalbe), how comfortable do you feel in the pit, why?
4. Clubs, pit preachers, students studying, and socializing are all symbols that can be associated with the pit. What signs or symbols do you associate with the pit?
5. When you first came to UNC, how did you find/identify the pit? Did certain signs or symbols lead you there
6. Do you feel that the pit should be left open for any kind of expression / symbols / signs or should there be restrictions?

After all the revisions, our final complex question is as follows:

What are the different signs and symbols that each student individually associates with the pit, how do those signs and symbols affect the comfort level that each student feels within the pit, and should there be boundaries placed around the expressions of certain signs and symbols?