By Sydney Shaw and Chelsea LoCascio
Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor
The College has seen an increase in reports of intrusions into campus residence halls and dorm rooms, according to an email sent to the campus community on Friday, Oct. 21, by John Collins, Campus Police chief and director of Campus Security.
“We are taking this matter very seriously and are making every effort to apprehend the individual or individuals responsible,” Collins wrote in the email. “We are conducting interviews and examining a great deal of investigatory information and have dedicated additional resources to resolving this matter.”
A female student told The Signal that she woke up in her Decker Hall dorm room on Friday, Oct. 21, around 2:30 a.m., and noticed someone sitting on the floor. When she asked who he was, he told her that her roommate had let him in to use their bathroom.
“The next morning, I asked my roommate if she had let someone use our bathroom last night,” she said, but her roommate had no idea what she was talking about. After learning that an intruder entered an unlocked room in another residence hall that same night, she called Campus Police.
“The scary thing is that I have no idea how I woke up from my deep sleep, and how long he was in my room,” she said.
The student said the College doesn’t feel safe anymore, especially since Desk Assistants are students who only stay until 2 a.m. and there aren’t any security cameras in residence halls.
An emergency text alert from the College was sent to the campus community just before 5 a.m. on Friday. It warned students of an intruder who reportedly entered an unlocked room in New Residence Hall. The intruder, who was wearing light shorts and a dark shirt, is a white male about 5-foot-9 with a thin face.
According to the email from Collins, police presence in and around residence halls was increased over the weekend the email was sent.
The email advised students and other members of the community to lock their doors when they go to bed or leave the room, make sure no exterior residence hall doors are propped open and avoid letting strangers follow them inside after they swipe their ID cards to unlock residence halls.
Anyone with more information should contact Campus Police at 609-771-2167 at any hour, and call 911 if anything suspicious or of concern occurs.
