Two female Chapin Hall residents reported that an unidentified man entered their rooms while they slept early Sunday morning, said Asst. Chief Daniel McAleer of University Police.
The incident comes the week after room intrusions in Allison Hall and Willard Residential College . UP warned Allison residents to lock their doors at a meeting Tuesday night.
A man entered Medill sophomore Lisa Matuska’s unlocked room at about 6:30 a.m., Matuska told UP and THE DAILY. She said she woke when she heard the door open. And when the man noticed she was awake, she said he faced her and said, “I thought this was my girlfriend’s room. I’m sorry,” and left.
“I realized my name and my roommate’s name were on the door and thought it was just a ridiculous situation,” Matuska said.
She contacted UP at about 7:40 p.m.
Tara Jayant, a Weinberg sophomore and former Daily staffer, called UP at about 7 a.m. after she woke up to find a man leaning over her as she lay in bed. She woke at about 6:30 a.m. when he turned on the closet light, she said. When he noticed Jayant was awake, he left the room, she said. Jayant’s roommate was away at the time, she said.
“I couldn’t see because I didn’t have my glasses on,” she said. “I had no idea what was going on. My first instinct was to go back to sleep.”
She changed her mind and went to her door, she said. The man was standing in the hall and backed away from her, facing her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, according to Jayant, and left.
Jayant described the man to UP as about 5’10”, of muscular build and wearing a tan-colored jacket, according to the police report. He did not appear to be homeless, she said. Officers searched the dorm and neighboring areas and did not find someone who matched the description, McAleer said.
“I didn’t get the sense that he was dangerous, but that he was sketchy,” she said. “There was something very shady about him.”
Jayant sent an e-mail to her dorm’s listserv informing them of the incident at about 9 a.m. Matuska came to her room soon afterward to tell her a similar incident had happened to her, Jayant said.
Both Jayant and Matuska said nothing was taken from their rooms.
“We definitely are going to take a close look at our security procedures and practices in regards to access to the residence halls and take a look at all procedures,” said Al Cubbage, vice president for university relations.
“I know we don’t have any decisions about what we, if anything, will do differently. But we will take a close look. Having several incidents of a similar nature is clearly a matter of concern.”
Dean of Students Mary Desler sent an e-mail to South Campus residents Monday night telling students to lock their doors. There also will be firesides, she said in the e-mail, and the number of police patrols in the area also has increased.
But Matuska said firesides may not be enough.
“They’ve been telling us, ‘Lock your doors,’ and we should do that, but there’s stuff the university should be doing, maybe something beyond telling us what to do, especially if it’s happening in Allison and Willard,” she said.
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