Creeping Around Campus

When Amy B. Diaz ’08 woke up at around 2 a.m. on Feb. 20, she thought the noise she heard emanating from her common room was a disoriented person walking into the wrong suite.

Instead, she found police officers in her Kirkland House bathroom wrestling with a late-night intruder who had allegedly entered the room to steal from her.

The man, identified by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) as Craig King, a 37-year-old Cantabrigian, had allegedly “piggybacked” into Kirkland—following a resident into the house—before finding the door to the junior’s room propped open by a hanger.

The episode was one of several similar incidents that have taken place over the past several weeks in which strangers have gained access to residential houses.

On February 17, a group of local residents crashed a party in the Quad, allegedly causing a fight in Cabot House that resulted in what police described as “blood on the carpet and walls.” The next night, non-Harvard affiliates made their way into Currier House, again allegedly causing a fight to which HUPD officers had to be called.

And on February 27, a man was arrested by HUPD for allegedly piggybacking into the Malkin Athletic Center, and charged with trespassing and assault and battery of a police officer.

Students and administrators say that the trespassing incidents have exposed the potential dangers of an urban campus, and some wonder whether students are becoming too lenient about whom they let into their house.

CLOSED DOORS

According to HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano, the number of burglaries in residences last year was down from previous years. In 2006, there were forty-two burglaries in a residence, a 52 percent decrease from 2005, says Catalano.

He says that in January and February of this year there have been eight thefts reported that occurred in undergraduate residences.

Catalano says that he didn’t attribute the recent incidents to a rise in crime.

“One reason why piggybacking may seem more prevalent is that we have made some good arrests after residents have called us immediately after a piggybacking incident,” he says in an e-mail.

Administrators said that they were concerned that students were not paying attention to whom they let into their houses.

Gregg A. Peeples, the Winthrop House Allston Burr resident dean, says that “the burden falls on individual students.”

“I don’t think students would appreciate us running around and negatively reinforcing,” he says. “We need to positively encourage people.”

He says that several Winthrop students had taken it upon themselves to go door-to-door to remind their neighbors not to let strangers piggyback into the house.

Ryan Spoering, the Lowell House resident dean, says that he thought the incidents were taking place because students were not being careful enough.

“This particular incident [in Kirkland] was a breakdown of security and students need to be more mindful,” he says.

STILL SAFE

Students say that while the recent trespassings are disturbing, they did not feel that the campus has become more dangerous.

Diaz, the resident of the Kirkland room, says that having a trespasser try to steal from her room has not robbed her of the sense of security of the Harvard campus.

Still, she says, “I always make sure I close the door behind me now, as I am going through the swipe.”

“I feel pretty safe in my house but the thing I am still weird about is walking back [home at night],” she adds.

PeiPei X. Zhang ’08, who last April came in contact with the “dreadlocks man,” who had allegedly trespassed into Cabot House bathrooms, says that nearly a year later, she didn’t think that safety on campus was any different.

“I think for a couple of days after that happened, people were like ‘we should be careful of who we let in,’” she says. “People were aware of it for a week and then forgot about it.”

Zhang says that she thought that the University did a good job of protecting its students.

“I think the place is well guarded and people get suspicious of people who look like they don’t belong,” she says. “The experience did not traumatize me as much as it amused me.”

But some students say that the recent incidents have made them feel that the campus is getting more dangerous.

Marco P. Basile ’08 says that he was shocked by the recent break-ins.

“I was fascinated that this could happen on a college campus and not really upset people,” he says. “I think it’s a problem and it is pushed aside.”

Catalano says that it is up to students to protect their residential space.

“Once again the first line of defense in maintaining the safety and security in residence halls is the residents themselves,” he says. “Residents increase the probability of being a victim when they increase the opportunity for crime.”

—Staff writer Noah S. Bloom can be reached at nsbloom@fas.harvard.edu.