Man Spends Three Nights in Cabot Common Room

A man slept over last Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in a basement common room in Cabot House before accusations of harassment caused House officials to order him to leave.

Cabot House Master James H. Ware had originally invited the stranger to spend Friday night in Cabot.

"We actually thought of it initially as an act of hospitality," Ware said.

But when Ware learned a female student had complained about the man's conduct at a party, he said the man became "unwelcome" and was told to leave the house permanently.

The man, who attended summer school at Harvard, knocked on the door of Cabot House resident David E. Martin '00 Friday night, calling himself "Colin" and saying he had come from Houston to meet a friend in Cambridge. Through a series of mishaps, the man had not been able to find his friend, according to Martin. The man then explained that he had lived in Martin's room during his summer school stay.

Martin said that, after consulting with Ware, he set the man up with a place to sleep in one of Cabot's basement common rooms.

The man's one night stay then turned into two.

Ware said he had thought the man would only stay over Friday night and was unaware the man continued to sleep in the common room during the weekend.

At a House-wide party attended by hundreds on Saturday night, one Cabot senior, who asked that her name not be used, said the man hassled her and made her feel uneasy.

"He kept on walking after me and called my name," she said. "I walked out of the party because I felt uncomfortable."

She said she later returned to the party, thinking that the man had been kicked out of the house. But the man was still at the party. The senior said the man then harassed her again, yanking her hair and asking what kind of shampoo she uses. She said she spent the night with a friend in Kirkland House.

Ware said he considered ordering the man to leave the house Sunday night after he found out about the incident.

But he said he decided to let the man stay over "rather than put him out in the street in the middle of the night."

Two Cabot house seniors, who asked to remain anonymous, said they shared their concerns about the man with Cabot Senior Tutor Robert Neugeboren on Sunday night.

They said they believe Ware and Neugeboren should have been quicker to expel the man.

Another Cabot senior said that after the man left, she posted signs around the House telling other students to challenge strangers for their IDs.

Based on reports of the man's actions at the Cabot party, Ware said he plans to discuss guest policies with members of the House.

"Clearly, he's a person who, in retrospect, we would not have wanted in the House," Ware said.

Neugeboren declined to comment on the events.