A 21-year-old male has been living in the Stevenson Hall basement, but he wasn’t a student, and most of the hall residents had no idea he was there.

Adam Due, chief of the University Police Department, said the male had been staying in the Illinois Room, a basement lounge. He was charged with theft, and the incident is still under investigation, Due said.

The man was discovered Oct. 14 after a report of a subject suspected of theft and UPD officers found him coming out the back door of the building, Due said.

The UPD said the man has been living in the building for some time and probably hid in the building before it was locked, Due said.

Due said the UPD has a few reports on the man because he is a suspect in some thefts. The UPD is unaware if the man has a criminal history, but it is possible.

Due is unaware of any other incidents like this occurring on campus. However, he has heard cases of students continuing to live in residence halls after dropping all classes or students allowing others, some non students, to live with them in their residence hall room.

These are violations of their housing contract.

Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining Services, said the incident was resolved as it came up so students and staff were not all notified.

“We didn’t go through an official notification process,” he said. “We were not aware of the investigation until it was resolved.”

Hudson said the UPD had been investigating and sometimes cannot share information while doing so.

“We are comfortable with the UPD and they keep us updated with information when we need to know.”

Hudson said the UPD supervises the residence hall’s night assistants, students hired to monitor students entering and exiting the buildings at night. It varies from hall to hall, but night assistants work in teams of two to four from 11 p.m. or when the front desk closes until as late as 5 a.m.

The area the incident occurred at is an “out of the way place that doesn’t get much traffic,” Hudson said, but, is now receiving more attention. Since the incident, the area is double checked by both RAs and night assistants.

While investigating the incident, the university discovered the lock on the door had the ability to be locked from the inside. The university has processed an order to have the lock changed so the door will lock all the time by shutting the door.

RAs said they were both unaware and are unable to comment about the incident.

Many residents were unaware of the incident.

“I think they should have told us about it,” said Brian Schroeder, a senior computer information systems major and Stevenson resident. “Something in the newspaper, fliers, an alert, anything.”

“I don’t think that that’s fair because it’s our safety,” said Katie Bingham, a sophomore family and consumer sciences major and Lincoln Hall resident.

“I do think it’s a reflection of campus security,” Bingham said.

Students do not need a key to get in Stevenson and many residents leave their door unlocked.

“So if there is a guy living there, he can get into anyone’s room.”

Bingham said even though Stevenson is primarily upperclassmen, it should be like Carman Hall with keys to enter each floor.

“I think that’s a lot safer.”

Bingham said the university has taken some beneficial safety precautions.

“At Pemberton last year, the outside doors did not lock … but in Lincoln all the doors lock, which is better.”

Also, about a month ago, resident assistant’s had a floor meeting advising residents to keep room doors locked, she said. A week later, a door check was performed.

The RAs would turn the handle just to see if it was locked, putting a note on their door to do so, if it wasn’t. If their door was locked the next night, they received a prize such as candy.

“I think the RAs should have told us something because we are right next door,” said Tashia Spillman, a junior accounting major and Lincoln resident. “Even if he’s not an ex-con, it can still put someone in danger.”

Both Bingham and Spillman said some residents have let males in who say their friend lives there.

“It’s even scarier that he’s our age,” Bingham said.

“By them not letting us know that does affect our safety. He can act like a student and just ask someone to let him in,” said Jeff Stewardson, a freshman business major and resident of Douglas Hall. “He could just wander in someone’s room … and next thing you know, steal something or harm somebody. I’ve been asked just standing in Stevenson if I need to get in. And that can danger the girls even more than the guys.”

“It’s a danger to the students and an issue of our personal safety,” said Alex Felton, a freshman graphic design major and resident of Douglas. “We should have a clue or idea of what’s going on.”

Some students would like to be informed of such incidents, but understand why they were not.

“I think we should be notified, it might make you think twice about locking your doors, but I understand why they might not tell people because that might scare people and make them feel unsafe or overreact,” said Brittany Castle, a freshman elementary education major and resident of Lincoln.

“I think RA’s should have told us as a precautionary warning to keep an eye out, but I can understand because it is still under investigation,” said Cal Sely, a freshman secondary education major and Douglas resident.

Some students believe they have a right to be informed of any incident occurring in their residence.

“We pay a lot of money to go here, so we should hear what goes on,” said Eric Saxton, a freshman sales and marketing major and resident of Douglas. “The school is pretty safe in general, but if there are some crazy crack heads living in the basement, I wanna know about it. We do our laundry in the basement and we do study tables down there.”

“In general, I think everyone at this university is misinformed about stuff and I feel that we deserve to know everything that goes on,” said Andrew Newton, a freshman chemistry major and Douglas resident.

“I think it would be nice to know considering the routine is you put laundry in machines, go upstairs and you may come back three or four hours later,” said Tom Coursey, a junior management major and Stevenson resident. If laundry is left in a machine, some students will take it out and set it aside and someone could steal it.

Coursey also has other security concerns.

“This is the only compound you don’t need a key to go up or down the elevator, which is cool, but we don’t really lock our doors,” he said.

Campus Editor Jennifer Chiariello can be reached at [email protected].