An unknown individual or individuals caused “significant damage” to a women’s restroom in Buchanan Hall last week, police say.
According to a police report about the incident, two UC Santa Barbara students first discovered the damage around 7:45 p.m. on Jan. 28, after leaving a nearby class.
Andrea Verdugo / Daily Nexus
“Upon entering the women’s restroom, [the students] found significant damage to the bathroom sinks and some minor damage to the toilets,” the report states.
Water was still running from all three of the sink faucets when the two entered, according to the report. The students turned off the water, called the police and checked a nearby lecture hall, Buchanan 1910, to “see if anyone saw or heard anything.” Three students in the classroom reportedly “admitted to hearing loud noises and breaking glass” approximately 20 minutes prior, but they assumed it was “someone throwing out trash that contained glass.”
Police later spoke to the students in Buchanan 1910, who said they did not leave the classroom when they heard the noise because they “assumed it was [facilities management] doing work inside of the restroom.”
None of the students saw anyone leaving the area, according to the report.
In total, the suspect or suspects:
- Smashed three sinks and removed them from the wall;
- Kicked and smashed two hand dryers until they were removed from the wall;
- Removed one toilet seat from the left-most stall;
- Kicked in one bathroom stall door;
- Broke one light fixture cover;
- Left shoe impressions on the handicap bathroom stall door and on one of the hand dryers.
Videos and photos of the damage appeared on several social media sites, including Reddit, TikTok and Instagram; the UCSB Barstool Instagram account also posted a brief video of the damage.
Police also found graffiti on the mirrors, which included the phrases, “Smoke the Mary” and “money,” but it is unknown at this time whether the graffiti had been there prior to the incident, according to the report.
Police located one camera that overlooks the coffee cart station in the northwest corner of Buchanan Hall, but it is “unknown if the camera is in working order and if the camera angle contains coverage of anything beyond the coffee cart.”
No other damage was found in nearby restrooms.
Police officers also reached out to the Daily Nexus’ satire section, Nexustentialism, about the damage. The police report references a satire article the Nexus had published on Jan. 24; the article in question, “An Ode to Buchanan, The Land That God Forgot,” was a satirical piece about the state of the Buchanan restrooms and Buchanan as a whole.
The restroom will remain closed until Feb. 17, according to Andrea Estrada, university spokesperson.
Updated [Feb. 8, 6:22 p.m.]
