Campus restroom vandalism has forced their closures, greatly inconveniencing the student body

Posted Jan. 4, 2022

By Natalie Hebert

Staff Editor

Vandalism, originating from a TikTok trend started on Sept. 8, 2021, has led to the closure of several campus restrooms.

The vandalism has ranged from graffiti, such as tagging with spray paint, pencil, and pen to destroying school property, including soap dispensers, paper towel dispensers, sinks, and stall dividers. Vandals have also peeled away sheetrock damaged by roof leaks. There was also disgusting and unhealthy vandalism, including lining the walls with toilet paper and human excrement. This happened in both the boys' and girls’ restrooms all over campus. The plywood put up replacing restroom doors is to stop students from entering because the original doors are not able to lock, not because the doors were vandalized. The restrooms in the north building hallway containing rooms 108 to 115 will be closed for the rest of the year, but not because of vandalism, but because of plumbing issues to be resolved over the summer break.

The math hallway restrooms were hit the hardest, including broken stall doors and toilet paper dispensers and paper towel dispensers. There is not a reopening date for these restrooms.

Three vandals have been caught, but it's clear they are not the only perpetrators. Cleaning the mess and making most repairs has been left to the custodial staff, mainly the night crew.

“[Cleaning the vandalism] is horrible and ongoing and we are doing all we can to clean it up,” said north campus custodian Alme Franklin.

It's been concluded that this all started because of Tik Tok views. Across the U.S. there have been students vandalizing schools, specifically restrooms, then videos of the vandalism in progress has been posted, along with the costly damage. Many of these videos were reported soon after being posted, but the trend gained traction among students nationwide. No videos directly from DDSD have been posted or reported.

“Reports have emerged from across the country: a stolen soap dispenser and damaged sink in Florida; intentionally clogged toilets and mirrors and soap dispensers ripped from walls in California; destruction and red dye staining the bathrooms and a teacher's belongings stolen in Arkansas; ceiling tiles and partitions destroyed in Tennessee,” said NPR journalist James Doubek.

Administration and law enforcement in certain areas have blamed Tik Tok trends that include hashtags "deviouslick" or "deviouslicks." The students with these hashtags appear to be doing this for attention and TikTok views. The hashtag has the word “lick” which has been used as slang for theft. Students caught vandalizing, defacing, and/or destroying school property face more than school disciplinary action. They face criminal charges.

TikTok has been made aware of the situation and is removing content with the hashtag and has redirected the search results to its community standards. Yet, NPR reports that the content can still be found on Tik Tok.

"We expect our community to stay safe and create responsibly, and we do not allow content that promotes or enables criminal activities," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to NPR.