Think you the shit?  According to an anonymous group of engineers and engineering students working under the cover of darkness last night, if you’re an Arts & Sciences student, you not even the “shart.”

An arts and science sign on the front of Sidney Smith was defaced by unknown perpetrators the night before Monday, April 1. The letters ‘s’ and ‘h’ were added to the front of the word “Arts” so it instead read ‘ShArts’.

A well-engineered plan?

The Varsity spoke with a student who claimed to be a member of a larger group, composed of mostly engineering students, that pulled the prank. He spoke as a general member, under condition of anonymity, without the knowledge or permission from the group’s leadership. 

He claimed that a group of five to 10 students snuck onto the property before midnight last night to change the lettering as part of the Engineering faculty’s ongoing rivalry against Arts & Science students. “They like to make fun of ArtSci students and that sort of thing… They don’t have any particular ill will,” he told The Varsity.

He also said the decision to do so was last-minute and only decided the night prior. The Varsity was able to obtain screenshots that appear to depict members of the group’s discord chat planning to carry out a prank that night.

The student added that the group focuses on urban exploration and is not planning any other pranks at the moment — besides perhaps plans for the next April Fool’s Day.

He said that his main motivation for speaking with The Varsity was to clarify that the Brute Force Committee, another semi-secret engineering student group, was not behind the heist.

A shitty precedent for the Faculty of Arts and Science

This sign has been defaced previously. In December 2021, unknown perpetrators put the letter ‘f’ before ‘Arts’ on the same sign. The two other “Arts & Sciences” signs have not been defaced before, to The Varsity’s knowledge.

The addition to the sign was taken down as of 2:40 pm on April 1.