Universities are open environments; anyone can wander around in lobbies and classrooms and labs. It might be harder to get into the library, but even there access isn’t all that difficult; and thieves can sweep along behind students as they enter their locked dormitories.
Similarly, if someone wants to take a class of mine — I mean, just shows up, takes a seat, isn’t registered … I’m unlikely to make a fuss. I don’t think it’s ever happened, but if it did, I probably wouldn’t do much about it. Maybe mention it to the department office manager…
Maybe I think about this question of vulnerability more than other people because I teach in classrooms directly across from the State Department, a quick trip from the Pentagon, four blocks from the White House.
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Yesterday, a law school class at Seattle University was interrupted by a man in a trench coat who
walked into the class eating an ice-cream cone and sat on a table near the podium at the front of the room, said a student who asked not to be identified.
The professor asked the man to leave; when he refused, she called campus security.
The man’s actions became increasingly erratic and threatening, and with no sign of campus officers, the professor dismissed the class, according to the student.
Seattle police said the man was talking incoherently and turned over tables and other classroom furniture.
… “It was horrifying,” said another student who asked not to be named. “I thought we were going to be that next school in the news about school shootings.”
March 7th, 2013 at 9:38AM
Really.
When someone unknown is in my classroom I assume admissions forgot to email me about a prospective student (for the young looking) or prospective parent – and it happens all the time. A trench coat and sitting up front would have worried me, too.