In an unsavory parallel of the notorious “Campbell Crapper” phenomenon that plagued Rockefeller College last year, human feces has been reported by students in Butler College in locations outside of the toilets and outside the bathrooms entirely.
On Nov. 10, Ans Nawaz ’21 sent an email to the Butler Buzz listserv with the subject line, “PSA: Stop Leaving Literal Sh*t!” The body of the email lambasted the person responsible for defecating in the third floor kitchen of 1976 Hall and implored them to take their bowel movements to a more appropriate locale.
Nawaz is a photographer for The Daily Princetonian.
The incident comes as one of several just this year. For example, at Rockefeller College in October, human feces was found in a trash can. During the same month, Building Services discovered urine-filled bottles at Forbes College.
“I was about to make myself some fresh eggs [in the kitchen], but it smelled a little funny when I walked in,” Nawaz recounted in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. “It kind of smelled like poop, but I was like, ‘There can’t be poop in the kitchen,’ you know?”
He described his discovery of the fecal matter as a “traumatizing” experience.
“I’d heard of things like this happening in the showers of other res colleges,” Nawaz said. “But I never thought it would happen to me…. I haven’t gone back to the kitchen since.”
Nawaz was not the only Butler resident who had been exposed to the remains of public defecation. Ned Furlong ’21 recalled detecting a “foul smell” in the entryway to Yoseloff Hall on Nov. 25.
“I decided to investigate,” Furlong said. “There was only one space where it could be coming from: the trash can. I lifted the lid, looked down, and saw a plastic container with human feces inside…. I was horrified.”
Nawaz reported his incident to the Department of Public Safety, but the officers could not do anything other than clean the floor and ask him if he recognized their drawing of the “Campbell Crapper” suspect. Furlong simply removed the trash bag with the container of feces and took it to the trash room.
Neither Nawaz nor Furlong had recourse to any methods that could identify the perpetrator, whom Furlong quipped could be named the “Butler Bomber,” and halt what threatens to become yet another epic excremental saga.
“This was immediately after break, so this person may have been suffering from a lack of human contact, as this campus was pretty dead,” said Furlong, when asked to speculate about the motivation behind these incidents.
He and Nawaz both agree that the two incidents are likely to be related, given their spatial and temporal proximity.
Jon Kutasov ’21, a Rocky resident, expressed sympathy for the developing situation in Butler College.
“Every time someone found poop in the shower, it would make the entire bathroom unusable for at least the rest of day,” Kutasov said about living through the age of the “Campbell Crapper.” “I mean, it’s human feces. It’s absolutely disgusting. I think people who didn’t live in Rocky thought it was funny, but it really wasn’t.”
Nawaz urged members of the Butler community to file reports if they have any information about these incidents.
“This is not funny in any way, shape, or form,” he said, echoing Kutasov. “This is dangerous and unsanitary, and just gross.”
Housing Regional Engagement Specialist for Butler College Michelle Brown could not be reached for comment at the time of the writing of this article.
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