Four female dormitory residents at Howard University were disturbed early last Thursday morning when a man entered their dorm and walked into their suites without being stopped by lobby monitors, according to The Hilltop, Howard University's student newspaper.
There have been no similar instances reported at AU, according to Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs.
When desk receptionists are trained, they are told about an investigation a local TV station conducted a few years ago looking into how easy it was for non-students to enter D.C. college dorms, Weber said. The young undercover reporter got into the dorms at all District universities except AU.
"I don't think [trespassing] is a major problem," she said.
In the past several years, there have been a few problems on campus caused by individuals not affiliated with AU. A middle-aged man made a sexual advance at a woman in Anderson Hall in November 2003, pulling back the shower curtain in the women's bathroom while she was showering, The Eagle previously reported. Two other sexual advances occurred that semester in the garden between Bender Arena and Hughes Hall when a man exposed himself and approached passing female students.
Students might say it is easy to sneak past desk receptionists without showing their IDs, which is required to gain entry, but desk receptionists, or DRs, still ask to see each ID when students enter the buildings in large groups, she said. Color-coded cards allow desk receptionists to glance at cards without having to scrutinize them, she added.
"The DRs do a really good job," Weber said.
Paula Chrin, a sophomore in the School of Communication and the School of Public Affairs and a desk receptionist in Letts Hall, said it is easier to make sure only South Side residents and their guests enter the building when more people are working at the desk. The Letts desk is double-staffed on weekdays between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on the weekends, Chrin said.
If a resident does not have his or her ID when entering the building, receptionists check the resident's information card on file and make the resident give his or her ID number and some other piece of personal information, such as a home address, Chrin said.
The intruder at Howard, who identified himself only as David, was not asked to show his ID to the lobby monitor because the monitor said she had seen him once before, according to The Hilltop.
Students must tell the DRs, or claim, any friends from another dorm or from off-campus as their guests, Chrin said.
"They don't claim you - you have to claim them," she said, referring to when non-residents follow behing a student with an ID and "claim" he or she is a guest of the resident.
Karema Eldahan, a sophomore in SPA and a DR in Letts, said friends of DRs still must show their IDs, even if the friend is working at the desk. Chrin said she shows her ID to set an example for residents even though she works with the other DRs.
"I swipe just like the rest of them," she said.
Even if a student does have an ID and shows it when entering the dorms, it does not mean the student will not cause trouble, but it decreases the likelihood of it, Chrin said.
Natasha Levinsohn, a freshman in SPA, said she does not think it is too easy to get into the dorms without an ID. DRs asked to see IDs during Welcome Week when freshmen did not yet have them, which was confusing but reassuring, she said.
"It's not even a sacrifice," she said. "It's a little thing you do for your own safety"
