Hena Choi

Public Safety Awareness Bulletins were posted at all entrances to Willets on Monday morning.

BY MARA REVKIN

In print | Published September 4, 2008 — Updated September 05, 2008 16:40

This article was updated for publication on 9/04/08.

At approximately 4:20 a.m. on Monday morning, an unidentified intruder entered Willets dormitory, where he opened a female student’s unlocked door and threatened her with what may have been a knife. According to a Public Safety Awareness Bulletin that described the incident as an “attempted sexual assault,” the student had been sleeping at the time of the intrusion but woke upon hearing her room door close, at which point the suspect approached her bed.

Associate Dean for Student Life Myrt Westphal said that the student screamed, prompting the suspect to flee the scene immediately. According to Westphal, the entire interaction was over in a moment. “It happened very fast. The student became aware pretty quickly that someone was in her room. She yelled and ran,” Westphal said.

According to the Awareness Bulletin, the victim notified Public Safety immediately after the incident and described the suspect as a 20-30 year old dark-complexioned male of “medium to tall height, medium to stocky build, wearing long jeans and a white tee shirt.” Public Safety promptly notified the Swarthmore Police and other local police departments, but a joint campus-wide search did not turn up any individuals conforming to the profile provided by the victim.

Director of Public Safety Owen Redgrave said there has been little progess in the case. “There have not been many leads developed. We often hope that the Public Safety bulletin produces some witnesses and that hasn’t been the case, though it’s still a bit early,” Redgrave said.

The incident occurred at a time of heightened activity in campus dormitories, as students hurried to move into their rooms prior to the start of classes on Monday morning. According to Willets basement Residential Assistant Loretta Gary ’09, many doors in Willets and other residential halls were left propped open over the weekend to facilitate the move-in process. “No one really paid attention to the fact that doors were being left open, because so many people were coming and going. But now we’re going to have to deal with the problem, for sure,” Gary said.

On Monday morning, Westphal met with Gary and other Willets RAs to discuss the incident and brainstorm strategies for improving the building’s security, including the distribution of signs bearing the slogan, “Stop the prop.” Willets RAs warned students to be wary shortly after the incident. “I sent an e-mail out to my kids to tell them to lock their doors, to be careful,” Willets RA Alvin Melathe ’10 said.

In a follow-up email to the Public Safety bulletin, Dean of Students Jim Larimore confirmed that the exterior locks to Willets would be changed. “While that work is being completed, measures will be taken to direct access to Willets to the main entrances which can be more easily monitored,” Larimore said in the email. Larimore also urged students to be proactive in ensuring that the campus is safe. “I ask that you please report any doors or locks that are damaged or not working properly to Workbox immediately,” Larimore said in the email. “Likewise, while it might inconvenience some in the short term, please report or un-prop any exterior doors that you notice being propped open or otherwise left open with the locking mechanisms disabled.” Larimore recommended carrying keys and locking doors to rooms, especially for those living on lower floors, and to contact Public Safety if concerned about suspicious activity.

Redgrave agreed with Larimore’s recommendations. “One of the first tenets of security is to have locks and the second tenet is that you use them,” Redgrave said. “People locking one’s door and locking the outside doors to resident halls is a significant step towards keeping things safer.”

This is not the first security breach to occur at a transition time on campus. Monday’s incident was reminiscent of two separate intrusions that took place on the same day, August 28, 2006. On the Monday of the first week of classes almost exactly two years ago, two apparently unrelated suspects stole a student’s clothing from the Parrish laundry room and pulled back a shower curtain on the fourth floor of the building.

According to Westphal, intruders are more likely to enter dormitories undetected during transitional periods such as move-in weekend because of the unusual volume of unfamiliar students, siblings and parents “coming and going at all hours of the day and night.” At these chaotic times of year, not only are students more likely to prop open the exterior entrances to dormitories; they also tend to leave the doors to their individual rooms unlocked.

The latter situation is even more common in doubles and triples, where “roommates can have totally different opinions on the necessity of locking the door,” Westphal said. Some roommates fundamentally disagree on the optimal level of security for their living space, “a point of friction that reflects the variety of places students come from,” Westphal said. “I feel very safe at Swarthmore, but if I came from a different environment, I might have different concerns about my personal safety and the security of my belongings.” According to Westphal, incidents such as Monday’s intrusion are rare on Swarthmore’s campus, “so when a case like this occurs, it is important and dramatic.”

The magnitude of Monday’s security breach may renew calls for increased security measures like swipe card access to dormitories, a request that students put forth last year in discussions with administrators and board members concerning the college’s long-term planning strategy. According to Westphal, “[The administration] last considered implementing a swipe card system six or eight years ago, but at the time the cost of installation was prohibitively expensive.” Since then, however, the technology has become more affordable and the administration “is definitely revisiting the issue,” Westphal said, adding that the deans “have already started conversations to discuss the feasibility of a swipe card system.” Westphal acknowledged that the intrduction of new technology can reduce the vulnerability of dormitories in general, but it cannot prevent intruders from targeting the campus community unless students take responsibility for their own security and that of their peers. “There are some fundamental things that students can do to prevent this kind of activity, whether it is locking your own room or asking the last person awake to check to make sure an external door is secure,” Westphal said.

Guaranteeing security in residential halls requires a joint effort by students and administrators. “We as administrators have a responsibility to provide a safe environment, but students also need to think of the community’s safety when they make individual decisions,” Westphal said.

Westphal said she did not believe that increased vigilance in dormitories would undermine the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect that the college strives to cultivate. “There are so many other areas in which we are an open and trusting community and I don’t think those qualities are going to be eroded by making an effort to be more aware of our surroundings. I think that we are fundamentally safe here, but that doesn’t mean that unsafe things can’t happen. This kind of incident just reminds us that the real world is out there,” Westphal said.

Additional reporting by Apolline Berty

« RETURN TO NEWS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »