Rutgers police searching for 'Dick Butt' vandal

The Rutgers University Police Department is looking for a vandal who has been spray painting penises on several buildings and sidewalks across the Livingston and Cook/Douglass campus.

Depictions of a popular meme known as "Dick Butt" began appearing on Douglass campus near Hickman Hall, on Livingston campus near Tillet Hall, the Livingston Student Center and the Livingston Plaza bus stop and on Cook campus near the Newell Apartments.

Dick Butt is a drawing of an "anthropomorphic phallus with a pair of testicles and a penis protruding from its backside," according to the site Know Your Meme. The "Pepe the Frog" meme has also been drawn alongside the phallic graffiti in some places.

University spokesperson Greg Trevor said Rutgers police are searching for the vandal. University Facilities and Capital Planning have been notified to remove the graffiti.

Some students have responded to the graffiti with dismay. 

Shivani Patel, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, said when she first saw the drawings about three weeks ago, she was reminded of the immaturity of some college students.

"Incidents like these take me back to high school," Patel said. "Rutgers has such a huge name and the University needs to stay up to its name."

With distinguished and world-renowned guests visiting the University, Patel said the lewd images may raise questions about Rutgers' reputation. In February, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) spoke at Trayes Hall in the Douglass Student Center, a building that is a short walk away from the graffiti now in front of Hickman Hall.

"I thought the rain last weekend would wash it all out, but it didn’t, since they have it in both chalk and spray paint," Patel said.

School of Arts and Sciences first-year student Drasti Patel, on the other hand, is less alarmed by the graffiti. Patel spotted the spray paintings while crossing the bridge over George Street and said she felt "weirded out" but not uncomfortable.

"I figured someone got drunk and did it," Patel said. "(The University) should get them cleaned up for now."

Avalon Zoppo is the managing editor of The Daily Targum. She is a School of Arts and Sciences junior majoring in political science. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo for more stories.

Minna Kim is an Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy first-year student. She is a contributing writer for The Daily Targum.