Several incidents of vandalism and theft occurred during fall break at student residences,  according to senior and ATO president Bennett Nichols. 

Over the weekend, unknown individuals vandalized the annex of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house. They spray-painted offensive and explicit messages on the inner wall and inside the women’s bathroom door, Nichols said.

Nichols said he saw the vandalism when he returned to campus Sunday

“I get that it’s a small college campus, and we want to have fun, but at the same time, please respect people’s property,” Nichols said. “We respect other people’s property, so we expect them to do the same to us.” 

According to Nichols, ATO members quickly painted over the messages. 

Young Life, a Christian ministry and GOAL Program for middle and high school students, plays dodgeball in the annex every other week.

According to Nichols, the deans are aware of the situation, but the suspects have not been identified because the annex lacks security cameras. 

On Oct. 15, junior Paul Miller intervened when a group of individuals attempted to steal a grill from Duplex, an off-campus residence on North Manning Street.

“I saw four people walking away from Duplex with the grill and asked them what they were doing,” Miller said. “They said they were moving the grill for us. They left it on the ground and walked away.”

According to Miller, he moved the grill inside the residence after the incident. 

Around 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, a composite fraternity photo of ATO’s active members from 2010 was stolen from inside the ATO house. 

“It’s rare for composites to be stolen, but we still spend a lot of money on those,” Nichols said. 

Other thefts over the weekend include a sorority sign from a residence on North Manning Street and a fraternity flag from 186 N. Manning St, where a sign was previously stolen at the end of September. 

Senior Meera Baldwin, who lives on North Manning Street, said she and her friends are being more careful after hearing about the thefts. 

“We started locking our doors,” Baldwin said. “I was pretty shocked that something like that happened on my safe little street, but it sounds like it was other students trying to be funny. I’m still pretty confident in my safety on Manning.”