The dorm life

By: Samantha Hughes

Posted: 7/1/09

I once read somewhere that the best horror stories happen in places you feel safe.

It makes sense, right? It's the reason why children are terrified of the monster under their bed: their bed is "safe" and a monster is invading their safety.

This philosophy holds some weight in the residence halls, too. The residence halls on campus are designed to be safe for its occupants, but if you analyze it, they're not the safest place to inhabit.

They have rules that are honestly meant to protect the residents: the outer doors that lock are sturdy and do a great job at keeping most unwanted people out, and when you lock your room door behind you, you're about as safe as you can get.

The "No tailgating" signs posted at every entrance and on the marquees on lobby TV screens remind you not to let anyone in behind you.

But who really follows that? I only know one person, and that was the RA of my first residence hall.

She was pretty into the rules, actually. After quiet hours, you could hear a pin drop, and she was always in bed around 12. For what it's worth, Kelley was an incredible RA and really adhered to the rules. However, no one else really did.

I lived in one of the all-girl dorms, but it was pretty shocking to see the number of boys who lurked about the halls after hours. Most of them were fairly harmless looking, and some of them I knew myself. One of my close male friends was pretty much a permanent resident of a floor. Almost every night, he was there.

But sometimes, the visitors weren't so harmless.

During fall semester of last year, I had an unpleasant stalker-esque experience with a boy harassing me. My next-door neighbors even had to knock on my door one morning to tell me to look outside where he had written, in chalk, on the roof of the building our

rooms overlooked.

Don't go there, fellas. It's a cute idea until she wakes up in the morning and finds you lurking under her window. It's creepy. Especially when it's unwanted.

On Halloween night, of the hundreds of people that were milling around west end, he found me. Not only did he not give up when asked to leave, but he actually convinced someone to let him in the building and up to my door.

This person is now a felon, just gonna put that out there. Imagine the things he could have done if I had been in that room and answered the door. Instead, he left a note and a random gift.

I don't want to criticize the safety of campus, because I know that student patrol groups and the student police work incredibly hard, but the safety of females on campus seems to be a little slack.

Yes, sometimes we ask for it by being inebriated, but think about this: one in every four college women experiences rape or attempted rape. To put it in perspective, on a floor with double occupancy, there is a girl in every other room that has been raped or has almost been raped. Are we doing enough to protect them?

Campus security is trained first and foremost to be a mediator. They do not want to start throwing fists like an episode of "Dog the Bounty Hunter."

78 percent of women who have been raped knew their attackers. Kelley, the fabulous RA that she was, told us about a person she knew at another university who was assaulted by her roommate's boyfriend while her roomie stepped out for a phone call.

So, as much as you might hate that visitation policy, think twice before you break it. Make sure your roommate is alright with your fella sleeping over, even if the coordinator isn't.

Also, consider knowing basic self defense, even the gentlemen. Males can be victims, too, and ladies, that pepper spray doesn't stop everyone.

Recognize that the residence hall association knows exactly what it's doing. So next time, think twice before you let that stranger follow you in.

This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.