Written by: The Copy Editor, Armone’ Gates  

A questionable prank that has occurred at universities across the U.S. this fall has led to a person of interest being taken into custody at VSU last week. 

A new, highly concerning trend on TikTok consists of university students urinating on campus landmarks and posting these videos on the social-media platform. 

 The trend has been seen at schools such as Louisiana State University, Oakland University and Indiana University, among others.  

 Officials note that these acts are unsanitary and a potential health hazard overall. 

 According to TikTok, “Students participate in this challenge to gain views, likes and notoriety within their campus communities.” 

 TikTok is known for its interactive challenges that encourage people all over the world to take part in them.  

 Due to this ill behavior, it has prompted many colleges nationwide to intervene, with some students facing legal consequences. 

 It turns out that VSU has made its way into the trend. 

The VSU Police Department has concluded an investigation into a social-media post circulating under the TikTok username “OfficalVSUPisser,” which depicted what appeared to be an individual urinating at multiple locations across campus.  

Several community members expressed concern and frustration after the videos surfaced online. VSUPD immediately began reviewing the content and monitoring campus closed circuit television footage. The investigation identified the individual responsible as a VSU freshman student.  

“According to the VSUPD police report, “The student was located and repaired regarding his conduct and the potential legal consequences associated with such behavior. The student apologized and deleted the account. This report will be sent to Student Conduct for future review.” 

 Public urination is a criminal offense. While this investigation confirmed the acts were staged, such conduct, if carried out, could result in criminal charges, according to the VSUPD. 

 The case has been referred to the VSU Office of Student Conduct for review under university policy. At this point, no criminal charges are being filed. 

 Support Services Sgt. Rebecca Leatherberry explained how VSUPD tracked down the culprit. 

 “We had heard information about the situation at the beginning of last week, ” said Leatherberry. “By Wednesday morning is when we started seeing several videos all from the same TikTok account.” 

Leatherberry said the department was concerned about the situation. 

“Other than it being gross and public indecency, many people were angry about it on Yik Yak, ” said Leatherberry. “From a safety standpoint we didn’t want the pisser to get hurt either.”  Leatherberry gave the timeline of how VSPDU discovered the culprit. 

“We lined up the timeline from the TikTok video and watched the CCTV footage from the area the student was occupying on campus that night until we saw somebody, ” said Leatherberry.”