Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" video, in which she swings on a giant steel ball in the nude, has sparked controversy in Western Michigan, but it's not because the culture police are after her, nor is it due to demolition workers feeling that their trade is being inaccurately portrayed.
No—college students at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., are protesting because their right to recreate Miley's actions in the nude using a famous campus landmark is being infringed upon.
Since 1995, a pendulum statue in front of GVSU's Padnos Science Hall has helped teach students about gravitational forces/served as a popular swing. However, the 42-inch steel ball also happened to offer the perfect locale to recreate the powerful imagery of the groundbreaking "Wrecking Ball" video, which many extremely chill bros endeavored to do and document on Vine over the past week.
This morning, smashing a sledgehammer through the rights of students to get naked and swing on shit everywhere, the college removed the statue to, in the words of Tim Thimmesch, associate vice president of facilities services at GVSU, examine the "structural integrity of the installation," Michigan's WZZM reported. While some might see this as an important safety step, GVSU's student body interpreted it as a move to undermine self-expression and frat dudes' attempts to totally go viral, bro. Naturally, because it's college, they protested, starting the hashtag #ReinstallTheBall and holding a "memorial service."
As of now, the fate of the ball remains unclear, but, whether GVSU becomes a pilgrimage site for Miley re-enactors or a shrine commemorating those who fell in the Great Wrecking of Balls of 2013, today we can say that the voice of the people has been heard, and they can't wait to get naked again.
Check out the re-enactment videos and Vine footage of the protests below:
