Two students were caught committing hundreds of acts of vandalism last Thursday to promote the upcoming EnviroFest, which kicks off Thursday, March 12.
Campus police spotted Leo Josephy, head coordinator of the event, and Lindsay Fischer using green paint to make handprints on campus property, including Robarts Library, the Galbraith Building, Hart House, and Sidney Smith.
“It was meant to be a viral marketing campaign,” said Josephy. “We thought, for one, it would be more effective to just have handprints instead of taping up posters.”
Campus police received complaints and responded. To assuage building administrators’ worries that the paint was permanent, Josephy had to show that it washed off easily using soap and water. He said the paint was non-toxic.
“We were not trying to be sneaky,” said Fischer. “It was the middle of the day. We sat and mixed paint in one spot for like half an hour. People were coming by and talking to us.”
Both students have turned themselves in, and said rain would wash off the paint.
Campus police acquiesced and said they would contact each student’s college dean to decide on repercussions. Josephy and Fischer could get a note on their transcripts.
“I think that was excessive,” said Josephy. “But I think that was because they got the [complaint] that it was non-washable.”
Although they were not asked to, Fischer and Josephy did wash off some of the handprints later. The rain on Saturday also removed a lot of paint.
“We didn’t want anybody to have to clean it up,” said Fischer.
“We thought people were actually really going to like to see this different form of advertising on campus because so much of it is so typical. It’s a university campus. It should be open to creativity.”
EnviroFest takes place March 12 to March 21. A Youtube video of the handprint guerrillas can be found with the search words “U of T Envirofest.”
