When Melissa Winchester was warned to lock the door when showering in Williams Hall, she tried to follow the safety warning.
But the doors don’t have any locks.
Winchester, an international relations junior, said she was worried when she heard about the two accounts of criminal sexual conduct in her residence hall in late August - and even more worried about the suggested safety measures.
“I’m really concerned that something is going on,” she said. “The bathroom doors have no locks on them whatsoever. The bathroom on the second floor walks out onto the patio, which is really convenient because the windows are always left open.
“It’s impossible to protect ourselves.”
An unidentified man entered a bathroom in Williams Hall at about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 26 and peeked into stalls of showering men.
Later that night, the same man walked into a room and tried to grab another resident’s genitalia.
The suspect is described as a light-skinned black man between 25 and 30 years old. Witnesses say he is about six feet tall, 200 pounds and has a goatee.
Grant Woodman, complex director for Williams, Yakeley and Gilchrist halls, said there aren’t locks on the bathrooms in Williams Hall because it has combined bathrooms and shower rooms.
Yakeley and Gilchrist halls each have some separate rooms for showering, while in Williams, all of the bathrooms and showers are connected.
The combined shower and bathrooms in Williams Hall are not locked to allow for easy access for guests, Woodman said.
Still, the shower rooms and bathrooms in the other halls - combined or not - are locked.
Woodman said he thought residents are being kept well-informed of developments and safety issues, including the recent posting of a composite sketch of the suspect.
“We tried our best to get the word out as soon as possible,” he said. “We think it’s a random thing. It’s not something that occurs every day.”
Woodman said if students want to alter the way bathrooms and shower rooms are locked, they can form a community meeting and vote on the change.
But Woodman said the residents’ first concern should be with the propping of front doors.
“If they can’t get in the front doors, the bathroom isn’t really a problem,” he said. “It’s just whether the people want to see that happen or not. Locked shower rooms would be something that the residents of the building would have to come together and have a consensus on.”
But Winchester said a shortage of night desk receptionists means doors are propped to let residents in - instead of a receptionists that should be checking them in.
And even with a meeting, she said, people might not agree on safety over convenience.
“Why would my safety go up to a vote?” ” she said.
MSU Sgt. Keith McDaniel said although the police can’t mandate safety measures like locks in residence halls, he hopes students will heed the composite sketch.
“People have been caught before based on sketches.”
