Students

Yale 'Poopetrator' Remains At Large While Saybrook College Students Remain Fearful for Their Laundry

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Yale University still has yet to catch an unknown student for committing an ultimately harmless, but still very dirty and costly crime: leaving human waste in the Saybrook College laundry machines.

Student newspaper the Daily Yale News reported Wednesday that the incident originally occurred Sept. 6 with a student finding their laundry urinated upon and soiled. After another incident the next day and a few more since, Yale administrators have launched an investigation and announced campus police would help.

"We have asked our students not to leave their laundry unattended, the affected machines have been thoroughly disinfected, and we are actively seeking information about who the perpetrator might be," Saybrook master Paul Hudak said. "That's about all we can do."

As if the horrific memory is not enough to ruin the clothes, one student said even multiple washes could remove the physical stains.

"I simultaneously wanted to throw up, cry and punch someone," sophomore Lucy Fleming said.

Fleming and other affected students have dubbed the unknown offender the "poopetrator" while they come up with ways to stop it from happening. Sophomore Camille Fonseca said students are standing watch over their laundry loads while in the machine, but some have even called for the room to be guarded by school personnel.

"It's ruining people's quality of life," Fonseca said.

The Daily News reported that all 12 students interviewed said they would like to see the person or group responsible disciplined, but differed on what that should be. The solutions ranged from expulsion to mandated mental health therapy.

"The fact that this could happen at Yale is shocking to me," Fleming said. "Think about what this means for our community."

Fleming reportedly hand delivered (with a paper towel) the first piece of evidence to administrators to demonstrate her seriousness. In an email dated Sept. 26, Hudak formally addressed the Saybrook student body about the incident.

Sophomore Attila Yaman told WTNH News 8 she believes it has happened elsewhere at the school, but that Saybrook students are acting accordingly.

"Now people are standing watch in the laundry room, so it's been kind of a campus wide phenomenon at this point," said Yaman. "But hopefully one day they catch the person"

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