Why was there a jar of urine in Harvard’s Lamont library?

The Mysterious Case of the Urine in Harvard’s Library sounds a little like an old Encyclopedia Brown story. But it’s a real-life whodunit that started last weekend, when the Harvard Crimson reported that university police were investigating urine damage on 36 books about gay, lesbian, and transgender issues in the stacks of Lamont library. At the time, police said this could be a hate crime, and Harvard’s dean of students chimed in with a statement denouncing bigotry. But on Monday, Harvard officials announced that the case was closed, and the spill had been an accident. A library worker, brushing through the stacks, had accidentally knocked over a bottle of pee, spilling it on the books.

Full article at Boston.com

December 15, 2010 by Uncategorized 6

You may also like...

6 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    December 15, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    Studying
    Probably a student that was studying for a big exam didn’t want to leave to use the bathroom and just peed in a jar.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    December 15, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    Homeless person
    Might have been a homeless person. We recently had a homeless person peeing in our trash cans even though a bathroom was available and clean.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      December 15, 2010 at 10:01 pm

      I’m guessing that person’s
      I’m guessing that person’s mental state would be the contributing factor to such behavior, and not their socioeconomic status…

      Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        December 15, 2010 at 10:41 pm

        Point
        Not sure what point you are trying to make. Here is the problem. Many homeless people are mentally ill. The mental illness is a factor that contributes to the homelessness.

        Let us say the jar at Harvard was left by a mentally ill person. What do you think the odds are that the mentally ill person is also homeless? Decent shot that is the case. So whether we are saying they are mentally ill or homeless it is the same point.

        Reply
        • Anonymous says:
          December 16, 2010 at 5:15 am

          Yes, it is a very serious
          Yes, it is a very serious problem that mentally ill people in this country are often more susceptible to homelessness.

          But it takes a pretty big leap to say mental illness and homelessness is the same thing, and consider it safe to assume that any homeless person is mentally ill. Most librarians are women, but the fact that I am a librarian doesn’t make my weewee disappear. Most people we fight in wars these days are brown, but that doesn’t mean all brown people are enemies of the US.

          Besides, your logic – if we call it that – is flawed. I’m assuming when you say “decent shot,” you mean more mentally ill people are homeless than those that aren’t. Our particular definition of “mentally ill” would have to be pretty gerrymandered for that to come close to being true. For starters, 1/6 of the members of our armed forces are currently taking psychiatric drugs, and at least for the time being, they all have homes. (http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/03/military_psychiatric_drugs_031710w/)

          If it’s just the mental illnesses that scare you personally or you find easier to judge by looking at someone, here’s a set of numbers from ‘Surviving Schizophrenia,’ admittedly a few years old:

          Where are the People with Schizophrenia?

          Approximately:

          * 6% are homeless or live in shelters
          * 6% live in jails or prisons
          * 5% to 6% live in Hospitals
          * 10% live in Nursing homes
          * 25% live with a family member
          * 28% are living independently
          * 20% live in Supervised Housing (group homes, etc.)

          Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    December 15, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    Not as uncommon as you might think
    In a library I worked in a few years ago I (and fellow staff) would find all kinds of interesting/gross things. Including a jar of urine. Forgotten/left on the floor next to one of the public computers. (We speculated that this person needed clean urine for a drug test and left the jar by accident. But the possibilities are endless.) Other items of note: a whole ham, half-eaten, uncovered; a raw potato, half-eaten; condoms; feces on the floor in the middle of the library; etc, etc, etc.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LISNews Archives