The Guerilla War Against CHS’ Bathrooms

It would be incredibly difficult not to be aware of the recent pandemonium that has swept across the bathrooms of American highschools, Claremont being no exception. Practically anything that can be stolen has been. The perpetrators have not stopped at just stealing from the bathrooms, teachers have also had supplies taken from classrooms as a part of this trend. This trend has not only extended to theft, but additionally many rebellious students have resorted to sabotage as well: urinals have been clogged with apple cores, sinks rendered unusable, and somehow a park bench found its way into a boys’ restroom.
This chaos would understandably leave people with one question in their heads. Why are students doing this? The answer to this question is TikTok (as if it has not done enough good already). The trend first surfaced in September, with now infamous TikToker @jugg4elias, posting a video showing a box of masks stolen from school with the caption “devious lick” (this video was taken down a week later by TikTok). This short clip went viral immediately, starting the trend of stealing from school. The first place people flocked to was the restrooms, stealing things like soap dispensers, and paper towels. Going further, select students also began to vandalise the bathroom, by writing on walls with sharpie, or the aforementioned clogging of urinals with apple cores. Beyond the threshold of just petty acts in a restroom, “Smack a staff member on the backside” is a new challenge developed by those behind the creation of “devious licks”.
CHS junior, Keaton Bunker, had an abundance of information to share regarding the state of Claremont’s boys’ restrooms. Due to his position as an office aid, Bunker had come to possess special insights into what exactly is going on in the bathrooms.
“There’s been a lot fewer utilities such as the soap dispensers, there’s been things shoved down toilets, toilet paper spread everywhere, that type of stuff,” Bunker said.
As a witness to chaos like this, it comes as no surprise that Bunker is supportive of the recent measures put in place by the school administration.
“Personally, I think they’ve been fair, we’ve kind of just been hurting ourselves.” Bunker said.
It is hard to argue with his position. In a recent email sent to CHS parents, Dr. O’Connor stated that the damage to the bathrooms has cost the school upwards of ten thousand dollars. This has implied that it is in the students’ and school’s best interests to get serious about cracking down on this trend.
Though the boy’s bathrooms may have undergone the worst of the trend, it is certainly not the only victim. The girl’s bathrooms also have gotten its fair share of devious licks as well, which CHS Sophomore Joran Peng attested to when asked about what interesting “licks” go on in the girls bathroom,
“In the 800s bathroom, most girls will know this, in the 2 small stalls you can definitely see a whole bunch of writing on the walls in pen,” Peng said. “One of the stalls is mostly positive encouragement which I think is great”.
These aforementioned walls say things like have an amazing day or love you all sm
“To be honest, I don’t know about the boys bathroom and if there has been anything too extreme that requires our bathrooms to be shut down during the day, but I find it kind of annoying that they close off our bathrooms during office hours sometimes,” Peng said. “On the other hand though, I feel like people should have more common sense and be smarter than just stealing toilets. Like, don’t be trendy, be creative.”
With the continuation and escalation of these devious acts, CHS has finally begun to take action in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. During office hours, only specific bathrooms are now open, as CHS is trying to limit the amount of bathrooms available in an attempt to catch somebody in the act. However, all bathrooms are open for the most part during normal classes. At the beginning of October, Principal Dr. Brett O’Connor issued an official statement to parents, staff, and students on the matter. While he discussed the bathroom situation, his main focus was on the “smack a staff member on the backside” challenge.
“These types of violations are subject to disciplinary action including but not limited to school removal,” O’Connor said. “Additionally, in wanting to be proactive and educating our students and families, there are potential criminal consequences if they participate in this challenge.”
Doctor O’Connor also asked students to utilize the school’s STOPit app, if they notice anybody in the act of vandalizing.
So the question remains: will these devious licks continue, or will the administration prevail?