Virgil, who often leaves small toys around campus, drapes a scarf around the bust of Cecil H. Green. Photo by Megan Zerez | Mercury Staff.
Students join local resident in placing small trinkets around campus
Throughout the year, small decorations can be seen on the
Cecil H. Green bust on the side of Green Hall. Behind the decor is a Richardson
resident who said he hopes to make passersby smile with his trinkets.
Virgil, a local resident who does not use a last name,
said he started putting up figurines and toys in various places around campus
three years ago. He took a Zurg figurine he found at a car wash and put it up
in his local Starbucks. Virgil said he is unaffiliated with UTD but often
passes through campus whenever he plays Pokemon Go. He said he doesn’t remember
when he started putting things up around UTD, but he started by placing rubber
ducks in the reflection pools of the mall.
“It was just harmless fun and it makes people smile,”
Virgil said. “That’s why I do it.”
Neuroscience freshman Rohini Kallianpur said she would
walk by Green’s bust on the way to different activities during her time at UTD
completing the Clark Summer Research Program in the summer of 2018. She said
she was inspired by the little trinkets on Green’s bust such as Mardi Gras
beads and began placing toys of her own on the bust. Virgil said they met in
August 2018 on the UTD subreddit and became friends from there.
Photo by Megan Zerez | Mercury Staff.
“It was really cute and quirky, and I felt like since our
campus is really young, it could be the kind of thing that’s a tradition,”
Kallianpur said. “Those are the kinds of things you see happening where 40
years from now, (it’s like) ‘Oh my gosh, everyone puts stuff up by Cecil.’”
Virgil said he gets the objects he places around campus
from garage sales or thrift stores and places them around campus at random
times and locations. He said he sees other items put up on the bust, such as
candy or cups.
“One time, I went by Cecil and there were five things up
and only one of them was mine,” he said. “Other people, and this was before
(Kallianpur) was a student, had gotten involved. I do it religiously.”
Virgil
said he posts photos of the objects he puts up on his Instagram under the
username “virgils_visuals” and started posting photos of those put around UTD
in March 2018. Kallianpur created an Instagram in October 2018 called
“utdcecilgreen” where she exclusively posts pictures of Green’s bust.
“I think it’s definitely the
one that students walk by,” Kallianpur said. “It’s definitely the one that you
notice.”
Virgil
continues his project around other places on campus by placing trinkets on
trees and against campus buildings. He said he also decorates bus stop signs to
amuse bus drivers.
Photo by Megan Zerez | Mercury Staff.
“They never really know what
I’m going to put up,” Virgil said. “One of the bus drivers, she wanted me to
put penguins on her bus, and I did.”
Today, two small figurines
of SpongeBob and Patrick can be found under a staircase in ATEC. A Snoopy
ornament hangs on one of the trees near the SU. Virgil said he sometimes
attaches small magnets to figurines he finds and sticks them to metal surfaces
around campus.
“One of my first attempts in
ATEC was when I had something glued to a magnet that I put on a second-floor
eye beam, and it lasted about a day or two,” Virgil said.
He said he made
acquaintances with students on campus and gives them trinkets to put up around
campus and in classrooms. Virgil said none of his decorations are damaging or
permanent.
“If (UTD says) stop, then I
would stop. I’m not here to create a problem,” he said. “Or if they see some
old creepy guy wandering around campus putting things in trees, they’re like,
‘Ok, we know who that is, it’s no big deal.’”