As the 2007-08 school year is winding down, unusual incidences have been occurring more around campus. Two residence halls and the Apartment Village experienced acts of burglary and trespassing over the past week.

An all-campus e-mail was sent out by the Butler University Police Department (BUPD) last Thursday informing the Butler community that “on Wednesday, April 16 at approximately 5:30 p.m., two men were arrested [for Residential Entry] at the Apartment Village after entering student apartments without permission.”

The e-mail did not reveal that anything was stolen. Interim Police Chief Andrew Ryan said that the two suspects had duffel bags with them but did not have any property in them.

Although this was the first e-mail sent out, this was not the first incident. On Monday, April 14, two other residents of the Apartment Village experienced a similar situation. They reported it to the Head of Residence Life (at the Apartment Village), Doug Howell, through an e-mail at about 8 p.m.

“I came home to my apartment at about 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon,” said junior Chandra Greenlee. “The front door was unlocked which is not unusual if one of us is in the apartment. I didn't think much of it and then I heard footsteps.”

At first, she thought it was her roommate. When she turned the corner and saw the man, she calmly asked him why he was there. He responded by muttering, Greenlee said.

“I then proceeded to tell him to leave to which he backed away from the bedroom he was entering and just stared at me,” Greenlee said. “As this was going on I was looking around to see if our TV was still here. He didn't appear to be carrying anything large, he only had a small black bag.”

After further confrontation, Greenlee said that he mumbled some more and then left. “I immediately locked the door behind him and went into the bedroom he was in. There I found my roommate who was napping and had not heard a thing,” she said.

“I didn't report it to BUPD because I didn't see much use since the man had left. I wasn't harmed and my description is very minimal,” Greenlee said.

Greenlee said that they have not noticed anything missing.

Since the incident, Greenlee said that “my roommate and I now lock ourselves in our apartment in addition to keeping it locked when we leave. I have also not been walking to and from my car alone at night.”

Greenlee’s roommate, Samantha Ringstaff, was napping when Greenlee returned home to find the man in the apartment. She said she woke up at one point to hear Greenlee talking to a man, but thought nothing of it at the time.

“We were both pretty freaked out because, we thought if he was there to steal something, he could have taken the flat screen TV or DVD player in the main room, so maybe he wasn't there to steal something,” Ringstaff said.

Another incident took place that Monday in Residential College, but this time, something was stolen. A burglary was reported to BUPD when two female international students had computers stolen from their room.

“Their suitemate had left her door unlocked because she had lost her room key,” Ryan said. “We had a witness, an RA, say that he saw a male walking with a backpack through the hall and it was somebody he did not recognize.”

Ryan explained that they are unsure whether they will get the property back on the laptops, (considering the computers were unique) but they have notified several pawn shops around town.

On the day of the arrests (last Wednesday) Ryan says that the BUPD received numerous calls about suspicious males around campus.

Also that day, another incident occurred at Schwitzer Hall. Michaela Begle, a freshman resident of Schwitzer, learned from her experience to be more observant regarding strangers in the building.

Begle entered Schwitzer to return to her room when two males caught the door behind her before it closed and followed her into the building.

“I confronted them about having an escort. In response, they tried to assure me it was OK because they claimed to be students here and just passing through,” Begle said. “I told them they weren't supposed to be in Schwitzer without an escort and made sure they left.”

Although she was stressed at the time, Begle said that she was still uncomfortable with the situation and focused on making sure they left.

“Looking back on it now, I can only imagine what could have potentially happened, which is a little scary,” Begle said.

Ryan said that he gave Begle credit for speaking up and telling the men that they needed an escort. That is one thing he wants students to do in this kind of situation.

“We need that sort of pro-activity from the student body. If they see something, don’t hesitate to call us and we’ll investigate it,” Ryan said.

An e-mail went out from the Residence Life Coordinator in Schwitzer, Justina Reinhard, after the reported incidences. It simply informed the residents about what happened, and warned about locking their doors and protecting their belongings.

In addition, in other e-mails sent to resident halls on campus, the residential coordinators are encouraging students not to pack their vehicles the night before they leave. Students are also encouraged by both BUPD and resident coordinators to report any suspicious characters on campus.

Ryan summarized basically what these e-mails emphasized – students need to be more aware of their belongings and the people around them, especially now when more people will be on campus and that it is approaching the end of the semester.

In response to why the Butler community was not notified sooner (before the arrests), Ryan said, “When we made the arrest on Wednesday, we didn’t necessarily know that these guys had been in potentially these other resident halls.”

Ryan is unsure if the suspects of each incident are the same, but guessed that they might be based on descriptions given by several witnesses (BUPD was unable to get a positive identification from some of the witnesses).

One description reported by a witness was that “they are two African-American men, both with cornrows. About 5 foot - 6 foot or so (tall). One with a red shirt and a bright yellow jacket carrying a black duffel bag. The other man was wearing a black shirt and carrying a black book bag.”

Compared to other residence halls on campus, the Apartment Village has a card-access security system to enter the building. A Butler student ID is required. Resco is another building on campus that has the card-access system. In this case, Ryan said that the card system is for students with accessibility needs.

Ryan said that there has been discussion of implementing this system to other buildings on campus.

Atherton is another building that will receive the card reader system this year. “Students can have 24-hour access and try to keep non-Butler people out,” Ryan said. He said they have had problems in the past with people being there (in Atherton) when they are not supposed to be.

“The university is long-term looking at trying to do that [implement the card-access system throughout buildings on campus], but again, it’s an expensive process and it’s a rather large capital investment,” Ryan said.

---

In other news:

• There have been other e-mails concerning campus safety sent out in the past week. An all-campus e-mail sent Friday morning, informed the campus of a missing student. Freshman Stephen Trent was last seen on Thursday at Ross Hall and was reported missing by his mother and the Hinsdale, Ill. Police. There has been no update yet concerning his whereabouts.

• A crime alert e-mail was sent out Saturday evening informing the Butler community that a male student was assaulted behind the Phi Delta fraternity (at the intersection of Hampton Avenue and Clarendon Road). The student got away and filed a report with BUPD at approximately 8:30 p.m. BUPD encouraged the Butler community in the e-mail to take advantage of the BUPD Escort Service, to utilize the campus emergency phone system and to walk in pairs.