ANONYMOU[S] is a brief series of texts submitted, read, and published anonymously, with the agreement of the author not to reveal themself.

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In April of 1903, Samuel Eaton IV shot a white rhinoceros on an expedition in British East Africa.

When the party returned to Mombasa, Eaton had the white rhinoceros stuffed. It was then shipped to the college in Massachusetts that had been endowed by Eaton’s grandfather, who had made a fortune in toothpicks.

The rhinoceros was intended as a teaching aid for Eaton College’s zoology department. But the Mombasa taxidermist worked too quickly, and by the time the rhinoceros arrived in the Boston Harbor, it had started to rot. Only the skeleton could be salvaged.

Samuel Eaton IV visited the campus two years later and asked to see the rhinoceros. He was shown to the basement of Vanburgh Hall, where the skeleton was stored in boxes. Eaton threatened to discontinue his donations; the president of the college assured him that they were only looking for the right way to display it.

When the new Eatonians arrived in the fall, the skeleton was mounted on a bronze plinth in front of Vanburgh Hall. The students named it Tony.

*

In the Twenties, a vertebrae from Tony’s tail was stolen by a pledge at Delta Upsilon. The bone was recovered; the pledge received a one-semester suspension and eternal fame among the men of Delta Upsilon.

Two of Tony’s ribs disappeared a few years later, and were never found.

When the head went missing in the Forties, the college put the rest of the skeleton into storage. It was replaced by a life-size concrete statue of Tony, donated by the class of 1948. The statue depicted the rhinoceros as he might have looked in life—that is, with skin.

*

Vanburgh Hall was demolished in 1958, during the college’s expansion. Tony was moved to the center of the quad. He did not, however, assume his central role in campus life until a decade later, when the students painted him for the first time.

It was anti-war slogans, at first:

HOW MANY MORE?

PEACE IN VIET NAM

DROP PANTS, NOT BOMBS

The administration painted over them; by the next morning, new ones appeared.

Soon, there were birthday greetings, marriage proposals, notices of house parties and sublets, innumerable inside jokes.

Tony grew stout, fattened by decades of messages:

THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE THE TEXT

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT

WHO’S AFRAID OF Y2K?

MORE PARKING NOW!

KONY 2012

It was a ritual: you had to paint Tony once, freshman were told, before you graduate.

Guides ended the campus tour at the statue, an example of Eaton College’s vibrant community.

*

Then, in 2018, Eaton’s chapter of BDS painted Tony with the colors of the Palestinian flag.

Within hours, Hillel had filed a complaint with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. A New York Times columnist cited the incident as evidence of a rising tide of antisemitism on college campuses. Eaton’s president issued a statement affirming his commitment to a culture where every student felt safe and supported.

After that, Tony was monitored around the clock. Students caught painting him without authorization were subject to lengthy proceedings with the Ad Board. Hillel continued to warn of a dangerous culture of antisemitism on campus.

*

The ritual, however, was preserved.

Every few weeks, the Office for Student Success repainted Tony: red and gold (Eaton’s colors) for the first day of classes and graduation; pink for breast cancer awareness; rainbow for Pride; blue and yellow for Ukraine. An associate dean was appointed to coordinate the painting program. A year later, a vice-dean was appointed under her.

In response to an Eaton Daily editorial about the necessity of decolonizing the campus, the president of the college invited a prominent Black artist to paint Tony red, black, and green. Several campus groups criticized the artist: her earlier work involved exaggerated depictions of enslaved Africans that (the artist said) deconstructed stereotypical representation of Black people, but which (the campus groups said) pandered to the White, patriarchal gaze. The president of the college issued a statement affirming his commitment to a culture where every student felt safe and supported. Justice, he said, had always been at the heart of the college’s mission.

Guides ended the campus tour at the statue, an example of Eaton College’s vibrant community.