A hallwide vote in Williams Hall earlier this month determined at least two floors will have locks placed on bathroom doors.
But Melissa Winchester’s won’t.
Winchester led the lock safety movement after an unidentified man entered a bathroom in Williams Hall at about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 26 and peeked into stalls of showering men. The same man tried to grab another resident’s genitalia later that night.
She joined the hall government and the Residence Halls Association to voice her concerns, but many of her peers disagreed with her safety worries.
“One of the reasons I heard (not to have locks) was ‘Where are all the drunk people going to puke?’” said Winchester, an international relations junior. “I heard a lot of girls say, ‘Oh it happened on the guys’ floor.’ That doesn’t mean anything when we’re so close to Grand River (Avenue.)”
But a new, less-confusing ballot was issued this week to give residents one more chance to lock up community bathrooms.
“Everybody seems to have an opinion, but nobody wants to do anything,” Winchester said. “The people that really want them really do want them, and the ones who really don’t want them really don’t.”
During the original vote, residents were also asked if they would prefer each student to have a key to the building’s main entrance.
Of about 120 votes, about 113 said yes.
“People overwhelmingly responded to the key proposal, and we think the bathroom locks were sort of forgotten because of it,” said Grant Woodman, complex director for Williams, Yakeley and Gilchrist halls. “People thought ‘Why vote for bathroom locks if I’m going to have the security of an outdoor key?’
Because issuing outdoor keys to an entire residence hall would be a new action, great thought and care is going into the proposal, Woodman said.
The final decision will be made by University Housing and Residence Life officials, he said.
“We want to dot the i’s and cross the t’s so there aren’t any procedural problems,” Woodman said. “Hopefully, we can get this thing resolved and people can feel comfortable about this.”
MSU police Detective Doug Monette said police are continuing to investigate the Williams Hall peeper - but that doesn’t mean residents should forget about the composite sketch.
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.
“It’s the best description we’ve had of the subject,” Monette said. “There are two names we’re looking at right now, and there have been some things done to the case, but we’re still working on it.”
