Dean of Students Nancy Truesdell sent an e-mail Monday to Lawrence students stating that unidentified men have been peeking into women’s showers on campus.
The announcement confirms rumors that have been circulating around campus. At the time of the e-mail, there were only two reported instances of women being spied on in showers.
Truesdell also informed the campus of a recent theft and of a student disturbed by suspicious activity late at night.
As a precaution, all residence hall doors are now being locked 24 hours a day. However, Truesdell urged students “not to be in a false sense of security.” Although the outside doors are locked, many students keep their room doors unlocked because of the open nature of this campus, said Truesdell.
“At this stage, we do not know whether it was another student or a member of the outside community,” she said, “so it is best to keep on the safe side and lock your doors.”
Relatively little is known about any of the perpetrators, so administrators are urging students to be aware of their surroundings and to alert security if there is any suspicious activity.
Expedience in reporting suspicious activity is very important. In one of the shower peeper cases, the incident wasn’t reported until days later. Had security been contacted at that time, the situation may have been taken care of immediately.
The investigation is particularly tricky because neither of these situations may have been instances of misconduct at all. It is possible that the “perpetrator” might simply have been looking for a shower stall. In both instances, however, the female in the shower screamed and the stranger ran away.
Since sending the e-mail, Truesdell
Shower peepers at large
