Masses of shivering, pajama-clad first-years gather outside Goodrich Chapel, sharing the same look of sleepiness and animosity on their faces. It is the third night in a row that a Wesley Hall fire alarm was pulled in the wee hours of the night, rousing all the building’s occupants out of bed and bringing both Campus Safety and Albion local police to the front of the hall.
“I think it’s really immature and a huge disruption,” said Zack Koshorek, Houghton Lake first-year. “I don’t enjoy being woken up at 3 a.m. by a fire alarm.”
The grapevine of Wesley Hall makes the amount of damage and vandalism done to the building this year out to be much higher than in years past, but according to administration and campus safety, it is nothing unusual. Collective damage to the building, save for a slightly excess amount of stray garbage, is very similar in actual monetary value to years past according to Nick Varner, resident director of Wesley Hall.
He mentioned that in the event of any property damage residential administration goes over security camera feed and speaks to residents living in the area to see if they saw any activity. He went on to say that unless administration can discern the exact residents responsible for damage, then no judicial process can be taken.
Vandalism and damages to Wesley this year include broken windows, punched out window screens, stolen and displaced fire extinguishers and miscellaneous damages in restrooms. Varner estimated the collective financial amount currently owed by Wesley residents for damages to be between $1,500 and $2,000.
Fire alarms are a more evident concern for Wesley residents.
“We have has five calls [specifically to Wesley] since the beginning of the school year regarding fire alarms,” said Kenneth Snyder, director of campus safety. “There have been more than that in total, but five that were clearly malicious.”
Snyder added that because Wesley is the biggest building on campus, with the largest amount of residents, it always has the highest degree of activity.
“The activity in and of itself over there, damage to property etcetera, is actually down this year in comparison [to other years],” Snyder said.
There has been six incidents of vandalism at Wesley this year that campus safety has been actively involved in, and, in response, they began staffing the building from midnight to 6 a.m.
“The fire alarms are very concerning to us, and they are concerning to the fire department and Albion Public Safety, as well, who are called to the building every time the fire alarm is pulled,” Snyder said.
As for catching anyone involved in the property damages or fire alarms, no administrative body has garnered enough evidence to put anyone through the judicial process.
“We’ve had some people talk to us about who they think are doing it, but no one has come forward and said ‘yes I know who it was, I saw them do it,’” Snyder said. “The rumors are that it’s only one or two different people pulling fire alarms, but no one has been disciplined yet.”
Residential administration keeps in touch with residents in order to keep track of any new information regarding the damage, according to Varner.
He mentioned that in the event of any property damage residential administration goes over security camera feed and speaks to residents living in the area to see if they saw any activity. He went on to say that unless administration can discern the exact residents responsible for damage, then no judicial process can be taken.
“There’s always going to be whisperings, but until we actually have someone come forward, we cannot take anyone through the judicial process,” Snyder said. “We hear the same whisperings that all the residents do. We just have to make sure they are substantiated.”
Additional reporting done by Marcello Molteni
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