Three weeks after issuing e-mails alerting students of the crimes committed in dormitories during winter break, Residential Life has begun installing added security measures on the South 40 and negotiating reimbursements with the insurance company.
Following the break-ins, and before most students returned to campus, metal dowels were placed in the track of the sliding doors in old residence halls, preventing the doors from being opened from the outside. A new sticker on the door now reminds students to keep their doors locked.
This, according to Josh Walehwa, associate director of Residential Life, is only a temporary solution for the department as it looks for a more permanent lock.
“We’re really excited we’re able to contract with [a] company,” said Walehwa. “We’ve found another type of mechanism that would secure the doors as well. This one will have some additional support and security. It’ll be another reminder to encourage residents to keep their doors secured.”
The new mechanism resembles a metal latch and will be installed higher up on the doors, according to Walehwa.
“It won’t be any more difficult unlocking it from the inside,” he said.
Sophomore resident Michelle Bernard welcomes the new security addition. Bernard’s common room in Myers was burglarized and her portable DVD player was taken.
“Our [balcony door] lock worked, although they probably could be easily picked. For the boys next door, their door could never lock. There was supposed to be a key, but they were never given a key,” said Bernard.
“It is my understanding that there might have been some other residents who had similar issues,” said Walehwa. “Those have all been addressed.”
He added, however, that he did not receive any complaints about the balcony doors before the break-ins.
“We deal with those situations when they come up, and when they came up, we definitely have dealt with them,” he said.
Bernard is pleased to see ResLife’s response so far.
“So far, I’ve been very satisfied with their actions,” said Bernard of both ResLife and the Washington University Police Department (WUPD). “They’ve been very open to ideas and opinions. But I guess we’ll see.”
Bernard hopes to get a full reimbursement for her DVD player, an estimated value of $200.
“We’re working with our insurance company to figure out what can be covered so we can take care of our students as much as possible,” said Walehwa.
The total estimated loss had been approximately $6,000 at the time when students first came back to their dorms from winter break.
“I don’t know the exact amount right now,” said Walehwa, “But the number has definitely gone up from that.”
In a different situation where a student loses a laptop while leaving his or her door open, or leaves personal items in the open, Wahlewa says the student would not be reimbursed by the University.
“What we’re doing here is a unique situation,” he said. “A lot of students were really targeted. The department is changing things around and making efforts to make sure students get reimbursed,” he said.
Apart from the reimbursement efforts, ResLife is conducting a survey of all the residential houses on campus to make improvements and additions to security.
“There’s been a committee of students and members of the police department and our department, to look at other ideas to make sure students continue to feel safe on the Wash. U. campus,” said Walehwa.
WUPD will be conducting most of the checkups.
“We have additional police patrol presence on the South 40 and North Side,” he said. “They’ll be doing rounds in all residential areas, even in Fraternity Row. The good thing about Wash. U. is that we have our own fully functioning police department.”
Bernard also appreciated the work and presence of WUPD in her case.
“The police were very helpful and good with telling us what they knew,” she said. “Even though I didn’t realize [the DVD player] was missing until after a few days, they were very understanding.”
“This isn’t typical for most college campuses,” said Walehwa of the burglaries.
Bernard, on the other hand, thought differently.
“It’s a college dorm, people know students are gone during holidays and it becomes a really easy target,” she said. “It’s just unfortunate that these things will happen. Also, we have a false sense of security. Although we have good security here, people definitely tend to forget that we still need to be careful.”