What may have started as a simple House rivalry has escalated into a frenzy of finger-pointing and name-calling, following the theft of Cabot House’s Green Cup early Tuesday morning.

The trophy, which is awarded by the Resource Efficiency Program (REP) every Earth Day to the House that has most improved energy conservation, recycling habits, and “eco-projects,” was stolen from its perch in the Cabot dining hall by two disguised males at 1:30 a.m., according to eyewitness Adriana L. Benedict ’09.

“The guy carrying the Green Cup was tall, thin, blonde and he appeared to be wearing shiny purple leggings,” Benedict said. “His main accomplice was a little shorter with a brown top hat...matching his brown and khaki detective safari getup.”

Cabot, which tied with Lowell House for this year’s cup, was first in line to house the award.

The theft incited a siege of e-mails, rife with accusations and calls for retaliation, over the Cabot House open list.

Mather House, last year’s Green Cup winner, was the primary suspect identified in the e-mail chain.

“Someone saw the Green Cup being carried past Dunster to Mather,” said Thomas R. Benson ’09, the Outreach Chair of the Environmental Action Committee and a Cabot House resident. “If Mather doesn’t give the cup back, they should expect that there might be something happening at Mather Lather.”

But some Cabot residents offered alternate speculations as to the identity of the perpetrators.

“People within Mather House said that it was actually Lowell House because Lowell tied with us this year,” said Joyce Lin ’08, the Cabot House REP representative.

In an e-mail addressed to Cabot HoCo Co-Chair Ajay Kumar ’08 and Cabot House, Mather House HoCo leaders accused Lowell of absconding with the cup.

“Afraid of Mather, Lowell has taken the Green Cup and attempted to blame it on Mather...They hope they can get an ally in Cabot and divert the attention of a focused Mather,” HoCo Co-Chairs Nitesh Banta ’08 and David J. Lokshin ’08 wrote. “If you want to find your Green Cup just follow the distinct and raunchy odor that we have come to associate with the residents of Lowell.”

Kumar, however, hesitated to take their message seriously. In an e-mail to the Mather HoCo Co-Chairs, Kumar wrote that Lowell does not have the cup and that Cabot residents have “reason to believe you are lying to us”.

“Someone from Cabot WILL shit on the floor Mather Lather on Saturday. I mean that literally,” Kumar wrote in response. “Someone is going to squat and take a UC-funded, eco-friendly dump in the middle of your foam party.”