Danial Mohammad Khan-Yousufzai, 21, a University of Pittsburgh student, faces felony charges for painting graffiti inside the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland Saturday morning.
The Pitt student is charged with a misdemeanor count of institutional vandalism and felony for possession of instruments of crime for causing $5,000 in damages to the structure.
Khan-Yousufzai spray painted the graffiti, 'WRC,' in black and blue. The graffiti was 12 feet by 4 1/2-feet in size. Workers Right Consortium (WRC) is an independent monitoring organization that collaborates with universities to investigate factories where university-licensed apparel is manufactured.
He was arrested and released from the Allegheny County Jail after posting a $10,000 bond.
University spokesman John Fedele said that the graffiti had been removed. The facilities management employees estimated the cost of removal of the damage to be between $65,000 and $100,000.
Khan-Yousufzai's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
The Cathedral of Learning is considered to be the second tallest university building in the world.
As a result, the building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has placed a historical marker outside the Cathedral of Learning and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation has designated the building as a historic landmark.
The University of Pittsburgh is a state research university comprising of approximately 132 urban acres. It was founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787; renamed Western University of Pennsylvania in 1819, which was finally changed to its current name when the university relocated to its current campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 1908.
Till 1966, the university was a private institution until it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education.
In the fall of 1909, the University became the first college to adopt the panther as its mascot.
