The tree painting and plot creation are a tradition on most/all HBCU campuses and of course the school is okay with it. I have never seen this on any of the PWI campuses I have been to.

Don't get me started on the Sigma Nu's here on our campus....suffice it to say that their Christmas tree one year was uprooted from a planting next to their frat and was drug across the ground over to their back door-then they couldn't figure out how we knew that they had done it ;).

At the University of Hartford, there is a huge anchor at the front of campus. Fraternities and sororities have been painting it for as long as I can remember (the 80s). From WIKIPEDIA:

The large anchor that sits near the entrance to the university's main campus once belonged to the USS Hartford, a sloop-of-war and the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Hartford. Each year it is painted by the college's various fraternities, sororities and other organizations.

Back then, if you painted it, you had to guard it so that no one painted over it during the night. If it rained, you had to put vaseline on it so that the paint didn't run. You had to also be prepared for a paint war - in which case you better watch out that you not paint the grass.

These days, you have to register to paint the anchor. I should note that during orientation, the Orientation group paints it in UHa's colors - red and white.

At Central CT State University, there is a rock in front of one of the academic buildings, that were painted as well. There were/are few GLOs there, however, so worrying about "owning" it for the day wasn't much of a big deal.

Pepperdine has The Rock, which is actually a different rock these days than it was when I was a student. The Rock WE painted was taken to Las Vegas by the Psi Upsilon pledge class my senior year (I have no idea how they got it there), where it now welcomes people from its place next to/below the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. It's a different Rock on campus now, but in the same place. The students must now register their intent to paint it, then they guard it to make sure no one else grabs it/paints over it.