"A Foul Stench from Her Bag": U.S. Student's Report Exposes Professor's Bizarre Behavior

Bag Damaged While Student Was Away for Six Minutes
Damages Exceeded $2,000
Urine Found in Campus Water Bottles and Trash Cans

A biology professor who taught students at a U.S. university for more than 25 years has been charged with allegedly spilling urine on a student's bag. An investigation also revealed that he had collected urine in cups and dumped it around campus for about two years, shocking the community.

On October 13, Yonhap News TV reported, citing local outlets including the New York Post and CBS Minnesota, that Paul Fischer, a former biology professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, had been charged with contaminating a student's bag with urine.

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Fischer was charged with first-degree damage to property at Ramsey County District Court on October 7. He had taught at the college for more than 25 years but left the school after the incident came to light. The incident occurred on December 5, 2025, at the Olin-Rice Science Center on campus. At the time, a female student was studying in a common area outside Professor Fischer's laboratory when she stepped away for about six minutes. When she returned, she found her backpack on the desk soaked in a foul-smelling yellow liquid.

The student suspected Fischer, saying he was the only person nearby at the time. She submitted receipts related to the damage, saying the bag and its contents had been damaged and that she had suffered more than $2,000 (about KRW 2.67 million) in losses. As police began investigating, even more troubling details emerged.

An internal investigation by the college's security team found that six reports had been filed about urine being found at the Olin-Rice Science Center between November 11, 2024, and December 5, 2025. The urine was found in various places: in campus trash cans, inside a personal water bottle, and inside decorative items owned by other professors.

The college reportedly identified links between these incidents and Professor Fischer during its internal investigation and passed the information on to police. In a police interview, Fischer admitted that about a year and a half to two years earlier, he had developed a habit of collecting urine in a cup and dumping it in campus trash cans or laboratory sinks. However, he maintained that it was an accident and denied deliberately contaminating the student's bag.

He reportedly told investigators that urine may have spilled onto the student's bag while he was emptying a cup of urine into a trash can near his laboratory on the day of the incident. However, authorities investigated the circumstances after confirming that the bag was damaged while the student was briefly away and that similar incidents had occurred repeatedly on campus.

Fischer reportedly resigned while the college was conducting its internal investigation. In an official statement to CBS Minnesota, Macalester College said it was aware of the criminal charges against Fischer and that it had ended his employment during the 2025-26 academic year. The first-degree damage-to-property charge against Fischer is a felony. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison or a fine of $10,000 (about KRW 13.38 million), or both.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.