Graffiti appears on an electrical box affixed to the Wesley Building on the University of Kansas campus, pictured Dec. 27, 2016.

What’s the rush?

University of Kansas police wish they knew.

All semester someone has been marring blank surfaces on the KU campus, plus some in nearby neighborhoods, by painting the word “rush” in various colors. The tagger has struck at least 17 times since August — in elevators at Snow and Fraser halls, across the back door of Smith Hall, on an air conditioning unit at KK Amini Scholarship Hall, and the list goes on.

“It’s a really weird thing. Anybody can call us if they know what it means,” said Deputy Chief James Anguiano of the KU Office of Public Safety.

Neither KU police nor the Lawrence Police Department have any suspects, nor do they know what “rush” means or why someone keeps putting it on things. Graffiti experts say they don’t know, either, but that the vandalism looks like typical tagger behavior, albeit on a university campus.

Graffiti appears on two electrical boxes affixed to the Wesley Building on the University of Kansas campus, pictured Dec. 27, 2016.

The incidents wouldn’t be considered prolific for an urban tagger, but for the KU campus it’s not normal.

Of 16 graffiti reports taken this semester at KU, 11 were of the word “rush,” Anguiano said. Most have appeared on the east side of campus, adjacent to the Oread neighborhood.

This fall Lawrence police took six reports of graffiti containing the word rush, said Sgt. Amy Rhoads, public affairs officer for the Lawrence Police Department. Those were in the 900 and 1700 blocks of Vermont Street, the 900 block of Massachusetts Street and the 500 block of Powerhouse Drive, she said.

So far, at least on campus, the tagger hasn’t permanently damaged anything, Anguiano said. But each time, as with other graffiti cases, KU police call Facilities Services crews, who must take time away from other campus duties to remove the graffiti.

“It’s a crime that occurs within minutes,” often at odd hours and in out-of-the way places where passers-by might not notice the vandalism right away, Anguiano said. “It’s not real extravagant.”

That’s a key difference between tagging and the usually more artful form of vandalism known as graffiti, experts say.

“We call that sneaky thrills,” said Jeffrey Ian Ross, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Baltimore and author of “The Routledge Handbook on Graffiti and Street Art,” published in 2016. “The advantage of the tag is you can put your nom de plume up quickly and move on, keep on walking if not run away.”

Taggers find satisfaction in getting away with minor deviance, Ross said. Or they just like seeing their names on things, want to tell people “Hey, I’m here,” or vandalize public places to figuratively give the middle finger to the man — or whoever else might be passing by.

As for tagging things like electrical boxes instead of, say, beloved university sculptures, that could be out of respect or more selfish concerns, said Rick Stanton, who formerly managed the anti-graffiti program for the city of San Jose, Calif., and now has a business called The Graffiti Consultants.

Graffiti on the back door of Smith Hall on the University of Kansas campus, pictured Dec. 27, 2016.

“In the back of their mind they’re always wondering when and if they’ll get caught,” Stanton said. “And they know if they do get caught, they’re going to have to pay restitution for the damages they’ve caused. The cost to pay restitution of a utility box is a gazillion times less than it is to clean graffiti off a historic building or a statue.”

As for “rush”?

Ross and Stanton have no idea, either. It’s probably not a gang reference or any kind of hate speech, they said, but rather just the moniker the tagger chose for reasons only he or she knows.

Anyone with information about the graffiti can call KU police at 864-5900, or to remain anonymous, the KU Crime Stoppers line at 864-8888.