Wednesday, 5/21/97 Student questions security in residence halls
Hedrick Hall resident investigates safety within building after
being robbed of possessions
By Carol McKay Daily Bruin Contributor When Lucas Lee walked
into his dorm room after returning from spring break, things were
definitely different than they were when he left. Not just
different. Gone. "Somehow people must have gotten into my room and
unloaded a lot of stuff. They cleaned me out," said an unhappy Lee,
a second-year aerospace engineering student. Lee estimates that his
stolen possessions were worth "about two grand," and they included
a television, VCR, stereo, speaker set and a CD player. Both
computers, his and his roommate’s, were left untouched. But the
thieves – Lee expects that there were more than one due to the
massive quantity of goods taken – did touch enough to leave
fingerprints. In his own investigation, Lee discovered a "pretty
clear print" on a framed poster, but due to the strenuous manual
process of matching prints, police have been unable to find its
owner. "The police haven’t contacted me, which is not surprising,"
he said. After reporting the theft, both to campus police and the
staff at Hedrick Hall, there was not much that could be done. So
Lee looked into it himself. He began by talking to neighbors who
had stayed in the dorms during the break, and later he questioned
maintenance people and observed the front-desk procedures of
checking out keys to residents. And he was disappointed with what
he discovered. "Anyone can get into the dorms if they really want
to. And I don’t think the front desk people are too strict about
handing out keys," he said. The temporary key policy consists of
signing forms and supplying personal information about one’s
permanent address, according to Catherine Liu, a front-desk
employee at Hedrick. But she admits some of her co-workers are not
always as strict as they should be. "If (the employee) trusts them,
that’s sort of different," she said. Liu, a first-year undeclared
student, said that she has refused to give keys to people whom she
knew shouldn’t have received them, but it is tempting for employees
to bend the rules for friends. Even without the aid of a relaxed
front desk, Lee said it is possible to get a key by simply
pretending you’re someone else. "You can get the address
information off the (Internet)," Lee said. "If you really want to
get a key, you can." Re-affirming the dorms’ safety, residential
hall officials contend that ensuring dorm security without
infringing on residents’ convenience is a difficult task. "It’s a
balance between freedom and securing the building," said Randolph
Menefee, Sproul Hall’s residential director. As a member of a
safety and security committee, Menefee seeks this balance
constantly. "No system is fool-proof. You can lessen the
possibility that other people will get in, but there is no
guarantee," he said. "We have one of the premiere systems in the
country," Menefee said. "It is unfortunate that we (must) have
these measures, but they’re necessary." In the case of Lee, he
found these measures permeable. Even without having a key, there
are ways to break into rooms, he said. Testing a rumor that he had
heard after his room was broken into, Lee and some friends
attempted to open the doors on their floor with plastic Blockbuster
cards. "I had heard that they changed the locks two or three years
ago because people had been able to unlock doors by sliding a card
near the lock," he said. In experimenting with doors on his floor,
Lee found several locks that could be opened without a key. "The
system is easily bypassable," Lee said. He thinks that the
combination of relaxed procedures and poor locks creates
vulnerability. Other students share Lee’s concern for safety.
Citing the frequent presence of solicitors, many agreed that it is
easy for shady characters to get through the doors. Access
monitors, who are employed to check identification cards as
students enter the dorms in the evenings, are supposed to help
solve this problem. But some students disagree upon how seriously
the monitors take their jobs, and how effective the service is.
"Anyone can get into the dorms if they really want to," Lee said.
"There have been times when I’ve told them I had used my card (as
collateral) to check out (billiard) equipment, and they just waved
me through." Area director Rob Kadota refused to comment on
students’ lack of faith in these security measures. But some
students are content with the efforts of access monitors. "In a
way, it gets annoying," said Carolina Osorio, a first-year
anthropology student, who feels that access monitors serve their
purpose "fairly" well. "I hate waiting in a line to get back into
Rieber, but it’s worth it." Osorio is not too concerned with the
safety of her possessions. She and her roommates often leave a pin
in the door to keep it open in order to avoid using keys. "None of
us want to take our keys with us, so we leave the pin in the door.
But (the pin is) pretty bright, and anybody could see the door was
unlocked if they just looked hard enough," she said. It is this
casualness about leaving doors unlocked that Lee thinks is so
dangerous. Last year several neighbors had things stolen from their
rooms while they were taking showers. Lee urged awareness of the
issue. "They would leave a towel in the door to prop it open. After
I heard about (their thefts), I’ve been a little more careful. It’s
not that I don’t trust people, it’s just that now I am more aware,"
he said. Previous Daily Bruin stories: Daytime attacks rouse public
anxiety