Two Northwestern students awoke early Friday morning and found a tall, heavyset man in their room watching them sleep, authorities said Monday.
Police arrested Steven Douglas Manning, 24, who was charged with three felonies after allegedly entering Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, 619 University Place, at 3:30 a.m., police said.
Manning, of the 100 block of Keeney Ave., faces two counts of trespass and possession of cocaine, all Class 4 felonies, said Asst. Chief Dan McAleer of University Police.
UP joined with the Evanston Police Department to search the house and located the man inside.
Manning told police he was able to get into the front door of the sorority when the door did not completely close behind some girls entering the house, McAleer said. The house alarm, programmed to activate if the door is left open for 30 seconds, did not go off.
Minutes earlier, Manning had gained access to the all-female Hobart House, 630 Emerson Ave., after knocking on a side door and being let into the building, said Al Cubbage, vice president for university relations. After not finding any unlocked doors, Manning went to Theta.
“It’s a real matter of concern that someone lets a stranger into one of the residence halls,” Cubbage said. “That circumvents all of the security measures that the university has put in place.”
This is not Manning’s first intrusion incident, McAleer said. He was arrested for trespassing in Chapin Hall, 726 University Place, two years ago.
“It’s obviously frightening, especially with all the new security we have due to the break-in in the fall,” Hansen said. “Even with alarm systems and everything, things can happen.”
New security measures have helped to make the campus safer, Cubbage said, pointing to several safeguards put in place last year.
After a “fairly detailed look” at the security of various residential units on campus, the university decided to increase security guards and install closed-circuit televisions, among other actions.
“Clearly what happened on Friday demonstrates that those measures were very helpful,” he said. “The fact that UP was able to respond very quickly and catch the alleged offender in the sorority itself is encouraging.”
But some students said the intrusion is just another example of how dangerous the campus has become.
“That’s pretty freakin’ terrifying,” said Weinberg freshman Cat Carrio, who lives in 1835 Hinman. “With all the violence on campus we’ve been hearing about, it makes you think about how safe we really are.”
The incident shows why people should never let strangers into their residence, said Weinberg sophomore Atiya Haque.
Haque, the president of Hobart House, said she hadn’t heard about the incident.
“That’s so scary,” she said. “It’s really disturbing that someone would just let a random person in. I thought people would be smarter about that, especially that late at night.”
Manning is set to appear May 9 in the Skokie branch of Circuit Court.
