Why is everyone urinating around campus all of a sudden? I thought a toilet came along with room and board? 

There’s a new trend that has started, which has given a whole new meaning to online streaming. The trend is simple– various anonymous TikTok accounts film a video where someone is pissing off-camera with only the stream shown in public, but specifically on college campuses. Ominous music plays in the background of the video, with some text onscreen mentioning “striking again.” It’s not against the law because it’s most likely a water bottle with a hole in the cap.

This has been a growing trend at many universities, but Rowan seems to have multiple “pisser” accounts popping up. It’s hard to decipher which account can claim the original Rowan University Pisser title, but it has nonetheless inspired multiple copycat accounts with various usernames. 

In my very serious research, I’ve found that these accounts have spurred a Rowan Pisser Hunter, an anonymous vigilante-style account dedicated to hunting the pisser, as well as the Rowan Fisher, an account leaving dead fishes–actual fishes–around campus, which is as gross as it sounds. 

Besides being hard to explain to anyone who’s not a college student or not on the “…ers” side of TikTok, this is both dumb and weird in my opinion. I don’t find it funny. It may be someone’s sense of humor, but I only find it absurd and rude to the Rowan staff who have to clean up this mess. 

So why are people filming themselves fake-breaking the public urination law? I’m not sure exactly. I think there is a list of potential reasons, but overhydration isn’t one of them. 

Among the targets of this trend have been the Prof Pride statue near the Meditation Walk, the Knowledge is Power statue outside James Hall, and the Henry Rowan Statue in front of Savitz Hall, notably iconic Rowan locations.

A popular theory why this might be happening is hazing, though that myth is quickly debunked when you remember that the accounts are anonymous, and Fraternity pledges would not be embarrassed by this unless they were caught in person. 

Boredom mixed with a want for virality is what I think is going on. I think the students behind these accounts should pick up a new hobby or join a club. Or maybe make a friend. In their defense, maybe they want a new icebreaker for next semester that isn’t just their name, major, and favorite color. 

This trend reminds me of the “Devious Licks” trend from back in 2021, where students stole property from school and called it a devious or diabolical lick. This seems to be a new take on that trend, once again leaving me scratching my head and wondering where we’ve gone wrong. 

Some people just want to watch the world burn, and since they can’t have that, they’ll leave a dead fish for an unsuspecting freshman to find and metaphorically piss on Rowan. 

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