Events of the past week– including two separate break-ins at independent style living spaces– have brought issues of security and safety to the forefront of student discussion.
The first incident occurred early in the morning on Feb 10 at River Ridge 5. An individual, described as a male wearing a black and white baseball hat and a backpack, entered the apartment between 4:30 and 4:50 in the morning.
In an interview with the Voice, one of the residents, Shelby Purdum ‘20, said she woke up to the feeling that the blankets on her chest had been taken off. She sat up to see a man in a hat and a backpack crouching next to her bed. Disoriented and confused, she asked who the man was to no response. They stared at each other for “what felt like a really long time” and he left calmly without saying anything or taking any of their possessions.
Feeling violated and afraid, Purdam immediately woke up her roommates Julia Callahan ‘19, Chloe Mayhew ‘19, and Martha Willey ‘19. Willey recounted calling Campus Safety at 4:54am and was adamant that she conveyed the urgency of the situation.
A few minutes later, a neighbor who had been sleeping at the apartment in question– Blake O’Neal ‘19– went outside after seeing a suspicious looking man walking around River Ridge Road. O’Neal spoke to the man, who witnesses say was likely drunk, as he casually walked towards the Coast Guard Academy. The man was quickly identified as the assailant, and Willey called Campus Safety once more at 4:59am and remained on the phone with them for three minutes.
In an email alert about the incident later that day, Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Operations Mary Savage and Assistant Dean for Residential Education and Living Sara Rothenberger reported that Campus Safety and the New London Police responded “immediately” but were unable to find the suspect. The residents of the apartment rejected that claim and reported that two Campus Safety officers arrived approximately fifteen minutes after their first call was placed, and they described their behavior as “slightly better than hostile.”
After arriving, the residents say the Campus Safety officers demanded to know why the residents had not detained the man and were angry that they did not know the intruder’s name. “They didn’t even ask if we were okay,” Purdum told the Voice. The residents also reported that the Campus Safety officers had refused to listen to them as they tried to tell them which direction the man was walking in. “He’s going towards the Coast Guard Academy,” Willey remembers telling the officers, who ignored her advice, and instead told backup officers, and the NLPD who arrived shortly after them, that the suspect was heading towards the Winchester Apartments.
In an email to other residents of the Ridge apartments, those at Ridge 5 described their experience in hopes of organizing for better security. They also described the confrontational way that Campus Safety interacted with them, writing the following:
“It was up to the members of Ridge 5 to provide a clear and coherent account to the police, who at the time had been directed towards the Winches despite repeated efforts to tell Campus Safety that he [the suspect] had walked South down the highway. Despite their blatant fear, Campus Safety repeatedly interrupted the investigation to blame the residents for having left the door unlocked. This behavior continued until the residents were defended by the New London Police who stated that the locks on Ridge Road couldn’t stop anyone from entering the Ridges. Before they left, the New London Police urged us to only reach out to them from this point forward as they fear for the safety of not only us, but everyone on this side of the highway.”
The residents of Ridge 5, most of whom are seniors and are experienced in organizing on campus, provided a list of demands in their email and urged their neighbors to forward it to high ranking administration members such as President Bergeron and Dean Singer, among others.
“Our requests are reasonable and standard for any student that puts their trust in their college,” they said in the email. “First we ask for deadbolt locks to be placed on the front doors of each Ridge; second we ask for the back doors to be secured; third we ask for cameras to be introduced; fourth we ask for another safety blue light to be introduced to the Ridges; and fifth we ask for a sign to be erected indicating the Ridges as private property.”
Their final demand is most blistering of all. “We demand that students living in the Ridge apartments be instructed to call the police over Campus Safety, as Campus Safety could not be there in a timely fashion.”
The first response they received from an administrator came later on Sunday from President Bergeron, who informed the residents that Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Operations, Mary Savage, and Assistant Dean of Residential Education Living, Sara Rothenberger, would be arriving at their apartment shortly to meet with them.
Residents report being in Coffee Grounds at the time this message was received, and all getting in a car to drive down to River Ridge Road– a trip that they say took all of 5 minutes to make, including a stop at the red light on Route 32.
They described their interaction with Rothenberger and Savage as positive and reassuring and noted that they were the first ones to seem genuinely empathetic. The two administrators walked around the apartment, taking note of security issues such as broken windows or malfunctioning locks–problematic flaws that the residents of Ridge 5 claim they have submitted work orders for in the past. Rothenberger and Savage promised the residents that Facilities would come and install deadbolt locks on their doors in the days to follow, and they did so on Wednesday Feb 13.
The demands of Ridge 5 were heard by not only administrators and neighbors, but also by the Student Government Association’s Executive Board. On Sunday, Feb 10 the board discussed the urgent issue of student safety. The following day, Jamila Ezbidi ‘19 and Morgan Fowle ‘19 met with Dean Norbert and Dean Arcelus to lay out the students’ demands. The two SGA representatives stressed the fact that students were disappointed and very concerned about the Campus Safety response, and about the fact that the NLPD urged them to reach out to them directly next time a situation like this happened. According to Ezbidi, Dean Arcelus stressed that at the end of the day, it’s up to students to decide who to call, and that they are encouraged to call the NLPD if they see the need to do so.
The SGA representatives asked the deans for a concrete timeline regarding infrastructural changes and were informed that within the week facilities would start to change locks and install deadbolts.
Additionally, Deans Norbert and Arcelus assured Ezbidi and Fowle that Campus Safety and the NLPD were going to begin additional patrols in the Village and that Director Savage was working with Facilities on installing new blue safety lights at the Ridges.
“Unfortunately, as we have seen this past weekend, the steps which have been implemented are not sufficient and were not enough to prevent another robbery,” Ezbidi told the Voice, referring to a robbery that occurred at Winchester apartment 8 between 10:30 and 11:00pm on Friday, Feb 15 in which a television and a game console were stolen. According to witnesses, the NLPD arrived before Campus Safety, who took approximately thirty minutes to arrive on the scene.
“This puts student safety at risk and has to be addressed immediately,” said Ezbidi. “Our next steps include avenues of conversations gathering student input and opinion on enhanced safety strategies, including options such as card access swipe door locks across the street [Route 32] as well as cameras. We are beginning by having a meeting with Ridge 5 residents, as well as members of Winch 8, and will be gathering wider input from students across campus.”
In an email alert the morning after Winch 8 was robbed, Mary Savage and Sara Rothenberger described the steps being taken to enhance security for independent style living spaces. They explained that Facilities was in the process of changing all exterior door knobs so that they are always locked when doors are closed, in addition to adding deadbolt locks to doors that don’t already have them. Further, they stated that Facilities would begin working on enhancing outdoor lighting and installing another emergency blue light phone in front of the River Ridge apartments.
Savage and Rothenberger also stated that the NLPD is adding patrols to the area and that Campus Safety and Information Services were working with outside vendors on installing security cameras to exterior areas in the Village.
This campus is not unfamiliar with break-ins. In December of last semester, there were 5 separate reports of unauthorized entry at the 191 and River Ridge apartments in just one night. Campus Safety allegedly responded immediately but could not find the suspect.
The unauthorized entries and robberies that occurred in the last week have produced campus-wide discussions about security and the competence of Campus Safety when it comes to emergency situations. For some, the recent steps taken by administrative members are sufficient and encouraging.
Others, like Shelby Purdum of Ridge 5, feel entirely let down. Reflecting on the terrifying experience and the way she and her roommates were treated in the immediate aftermath, Purdum told the Voice, “I’m never calling Campus Safety again.” •
