Liberty University’s banana vandal is back

Students heading to the dining hall this semester may notice bananas appearing on the roof of the Reber Thomas Dining Hall – again. 

Liberty University’s banana vandal is back, bringing with him the fear of having bananas taken away from the student body. The banana vandal was inspired this semester by last fall’s group of students who launched bananas on the dining hall’s roof. The banana vandal’s identity remains a mystery, as he wears a banana suit and mask obscuring his face. 

He is known on Instagram and Twitter as @lubananavandal. The suit and mask make it difficult to identify the perpetrator. 

Spring 2017 was the first time the bananas on the roof got out of hand. Duke Davis, the district manager for Sodexo, stopped ordering bananas for an entire month. 

The flinging of the bananas began about a year and a half ago, according to Davis. After the initial students got caught, the bananas stopped appearing on the roof and did not make a reappearance until recently. 

 “I felt bad for athletes who need the potassium (and) for students who eat a banana as their breakfast,” Davis said. “Students even started dressing up as bananas with signs that read, ‘Please bring back bananas, Mr. Rott.’”

This time, Davis promised if he takes away bananas, he will not bring them back. 

“For me, it’s just a waste,” Davis, known on Twitter as @MrRott_LU, said. “We spend about $3,700 a week just on bananas for students.”

This is about $15,000 a month.

Surveillance cameras were installed in the fall of 2017 to catch banana      tossers. 

One camera on the Freedom Tower films the entire area, and another camera sits directly on the dining hall’s roof. According to Davis, the cameras have done their job.

“Last year, we had three freshman girls who threw bananas on the roof, and after we saw the video, we had it passed around, and the RAs were able to identify who those students were,” Davis said. “They were brought in, and each one of them had to do community service for Sodexo, where the girls came in at 5:30 a.m. and helped put away a truck delivery.”

Davis believes the banana throwing started as an individual prank, and more people followed, thinking it a tradition. He compared it to Liberty’s old gum tree tradition. 

“There was a tree that all the students used to stick gum on, but when they redid the road going up towards (the) Montview (Student Union) and the Freedom Tower, I guess that tree was torn down and removed,” Davis said. “After, I guess some people felt the need to start the bananas on the roof, thinking it would become some kind of tradition.”

Some have found the banana vandal’s actions humorous.

“This is fantastic,” Liberty student Jesse Duncan commented on the banana vandal’s Instagram account. “You are a genius, banana man.” 

However, many see the whole banana fiasco as disrespectful.

“It’s (kind of) sad that someone like you actually made it into our college,” student Riddock Stokes commented on the vandal’s Instagram account.

Despite the varied responses, the vandal’s Instagram page has gained a following of almost 1,300 since its creation in mid-October 2018. 

Davis is confident that the vandal will soon be caught. 

“There’s more to it than the pranks; what people need to understand is that when bananas are tossed up there, we have to get facilities people to bring them down,” Davis said. “What if a facility’s person was up there, lost their balance, and a severe injury occurred? Why put people’s lives at risk, for such a silly prank that has no more gas in it?”

The banana vandal was contacted through Instagram for a comment but did not agree to an interview.