Over the past two weeks, Barbour Hall and Morriss-Champlin have experienced bizarre, and likely alcohol-fueled, acts of vandalism.
Two weeks ago, Deena Quitman '07 turned on the oven in the second-floor kitchen of Barbour to bake brownies. As soon as she opened the oven door to check the heat, she was confronted by the overwhelming stench of urine, which permeated the dorm thereafter.
Residents had called the Department of Facilities Management to complain earlier that week. "The smell had been around the hall for a while, but we didn't really know where it was coming from," Quitman said.
A week later, at around 3 a.m. Feb. 10, the bathrooms and hallways of Champlin Hall were severely vandalized. One resident, who requested to remain anonymous, said she woke up at 5 a.m. and discovered a shower covered in a red liquid with the curtain torn down. Thinking that the spilled substance might have been blood, the student immediately called the Department of Public Safety.
The mess of red liquid turned out to be Jell-O shots. The vandals managed to spill cough syrup in the fourth-floor bathroom and smear shaving cream, toothpaste and dishwashing liquid all over the bathrooms on the second, third and fourth floors.
Champlin Hall Residential Counselor Jessica Wall '07 told The Herald that the words "f--- bitches" were written on the carpets of her hallway in either wine or dishwashing liquid.
No one knows who the Champlin or Barbour perpetrators are. Wall said both she and Champlin's custodian "really don't think that any of (the Champlin) kids did it." As a result, no one in Champlin is being charged for the damage.
According to a dorm-wide email sent by Wall, the building's custodian purchased new shower curtains with personal money to replace those that had been torn down in the Feb. 10 incident.
In Barbour, residents called the Department of Public Safety and the emergency phone line for Facilities Management immediately after the oven had been turned on and opened. They were told by Facilities Management that emergency calls are prioritized by the order in which they are received.
Facilities Management did not arrive at the site to take care of the smell until hours later, frustrating students.
Although custodians used strong deodorants, the smell of urine lingered in Barbour for a few days, according to one resident. The entire oven unit was removed and replaced the following Monday.
Acts of vandalism are not uncommon on the University's campus. "It happens far too often," said Joel Payne '05, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students.
According to Payne, the incidents have increased in intensity in recent years. Last semester, someone defecated on the walls of the bathroom in Josiah's. Two years ago, Brown students angered residents of the Fox Point neighborhood by urinating on residents' lawns and destroying property during a party.
Payne said UCS has decided that acts of student vandalism have been occurring at alarming rates. UCS is putting together an ad-hoc committee of students and faculty advisers to address the problem, he said.
The committee will be co-chaired by UCS members Hannah Melton '06 and Evan Layne '06, and will consider whether vandalism on campus is problematic enough to require administrative measures.
"We're still trying to assess the situation and looking at what our options are," Payne said.
Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service, said there has not been a noticeable increase in the number of vandalism instances.
"Instances of serious property damage are reported as police matters," Nickel said, but DPS has not investigated the Barbour or Champlin incidents.
