dirty old man

[dubya]

I am an assistant hall director in the dorm that I live in while at school. Last semester, I ran a guy off who was in our dorm computer lab and looking at porn. He wasn't a student. If he was, I probably wouldn't have cared, but since he didn't reside on campus, I felt that he had to go. Well, when I confronted him, he just said he was sorry and didn't come back...until tonight. He wasn't looking at porn, so I wasn't going to mess with him. But then I noticed that he was cyber sex chatting with someone, and once again, he had to go. First though, I had to stop laughing at him, then I decided to go ahead and call UPD to see what they wanted to do. They came out, and the guy ran off. I did, however, get offered a job dispatching with the UPD this summer, so I will probably take it. I think it might at least look good on a resume. Anyway, I hope yall haven't thought this was too mundane, or maybe I overreacted. He wasn't exactly hurting anyone, but there are females that live in this dorm that are scared to death every time their phone rings and the other person on the line just breathes into the phone. I know they are scared because I get calls at 2 and 3 oclock in the morning about it, like I can do anything. I just keep wondering, "When will these girls learn to leave their phones off the hook at night?"

[klar]

Why should a person have to resort to leaving their phones off the hook? If a person they want to talk to wants to have the freedom to call them when they know they are home why should they have to suffer because some idiot thinks it is cute to scare little girls? I think *69 is a very nice feature. I would advise the ladies of this nice little feature and get the callers number if it is available and then contact the phone company with a date and time that the call was made. This type of harrassment via the phone is against the phone companies policies and it can get you to lose you phone privledges. I know a report of harressment by PBX can also be filed. You as a dorm moniter is in the right to kick a non resident off of the computers and out into the world. Let the real students use the computers at their leisure and keep the riff raff out. The riff raff can go to the local library to use a computer. Hope this gives you some answers.

Klar

[dubya]

The phone system at this school is so outdated. There is no *69, there is no caller ID,there is no call waiting, you have to dial "9" just to call off campus. I know that the phones at UPD have caller ID, they know who I am before I tell them.

[klar]

Hmmm sounds like you have a good reason to go to the dean of students and see if something can be done to protect the rights of students upon campus. It is a security issue here at work and the fact that some of the students are scared or uncomfortable with the ongoing prank phone calls. This will give you something to approach with and to get something done to either upgrade the phone system to a more modern system so that these calls can be traced or to get the off campus phone calls to come into a central location that can then forward the calls to the appropriate adgency. The second option is what I work with. There are countless phones on the airport property but only 12 trunk lines that allow contact with the outside world. Anyone can call off airport but if you call one of those numbers back via *69 your going to end up here at my office. LOL. I am the night operator and I will find you if your makeing a prank phone call. The fact that all my lines are recorded I will also be able to send a tape of what you said to the phone company too.

I know in our day of age there are all kinds of media one can use to frighten or scare others into submission. Many are just pranks but there are enough serious ones out there that this is something to be taken seriously and something needs to be changed to help protect the students upon campus. I would check with the local authorities and the phone company to see what steps can be taken to further protect those students.

Klar

[207]

Why is a nonresident/nonstudent of a dormitory allowed in the building in the first place without being signed in/escorted by a resident?? This is NOT a safe practice!
At our University that's trespassing.

How is a nonstudent allowed access to the computer systems without an NT account assigned to them? Who's account is being used? Sounds like illegal use of computer equipment to me.

Here's something that may work. Explain to this person that College/University computer equipment is NOT a secure and private environment. Whatever they are viewing is stored on the main server of the networked system and this information can be accessed at anytime and could be very embarassing if personal.
I delt with a situation like this when a nonstudent who was using his sisters NT account to look at gay porn sites, etc. (NOT that there's anything wrong with that, but we got complaints). I explained the above to him and he seemed not to believe me until I explained to him: "I personally don't care if you're looking at gay porn sites but, because this info can be accessed by anyone, do you REALLY want everyone to know about your "chat" session conversations with SugarDaddy in Stamford,CT?? (yeah, I looked)
His eyes almost popped out of his head and
I haven't seen him since!!....

[dubya]

We have what are called "inside" and "outside" dorms. It depends on how you enter the room. The inside dorms have an indoor corridor that you have to walk through to get in your room. These dorms have a guest sign in and escort policy. Outside dorms have no such policy. They almost look like a hotel, with the rooms opening up right to the parking lot. As for the computers, anyone can get on, you do not have to have an access code to get in. If you are thinking this school sounds squirrelly, then you are absolutely correct.

[Joseph]

When it comes to the security of females in the dorm I wouldn't worry about the problem over overreacting. It is always better to be safe and have it reported to the Campus Police then to over look it and be sorry later. It seems however that the institition has some security problems that have to be adressed immediately. This guy may have some other reason for being there than just to check out a web site. Also if he's there and you noticed him they may be others you haven't noticed. Someone of authority has to look into the situation since the matter of security seems too lax. No woman should have to take her phone off the hook at night in order to sleep because of obscene calls.

[PelicanDriver]

I would suggest that if you see him again, get the PD there as quickly as possible to ID him and inform him that he's tresspassing. There's no reason for an uninvited non-student to be in the dorms.

OTOH, if it's a public university, anybody can probably use the libraries.

[SpecOpsWarrior]

Pelican Driver is right on!

Next time you see him in there dont even speak to him, just start dialing digits. When the campus pd shows up, explain the situation and advise them you want him placed on a trespassing notice. If he comes back after that, he goes to jail!

[207]

Originally posted by dubya:
We have what are called "inside" and "outside" dorms. If you are thinking this school sounds squirrelly, then you are absolutely correct.

Well, expect someone to go squirrel hunting at some point in the future.
That sounds like a very lame setup to me.

A dormitory should be secure for the residents of that building and only accessible by residents. IMO our dorms are pretty secure and for MANY years we're had no problems... until this past Sunday when three students were stabbed by a non-student looking for a party. I also just read in the N.Y. Post that a Fordham U. student was raped at knifepoint yesterday.

All of our 5 dorms have one main entrance with a "duty desk" that is occupied for nonresidents to sign in at. This includes students that live at other dorms on campus. All the other exterior doors have magnetic locks on them with alarms. To get into a dorm after hours students need an access code or swipe card to gain access.

I would strongly suggest that the students pressure the administration to change your current setup which is an invitation for trouble.
Even our two 24 hour computer labs are off limits to the public and can only be accessed by students with an NT account. (Even I don't have an NT account and I work for the PD.)

The general public can use our University's computers but only in one of our two libraries during normal business hours. They are logged on with a "guest account" which only works on the library computers.