Sunday's DukeALERT describing an incident of an intruder entering a bedroom follows several notable crime events on campus.
The University reported Sunday night that a male entered a female student’s room and attempted to get into bed with the student in Randolph residence hall on East Campus.
This occurred at approximately 4 a.m. Sunday morning and was reported to Student Affairs later in the day. According to the DukeALERT sent out via email and text, the male suspect left after she and her roommate screamed.
The DukeALERT was sent out almost 20 hours after the incident occurred, in accordance with the Clery Act. The student refused to speak to the Duke University Police Department, the alert said.
DUPD did not have any additional information.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, told The Chronicle that Duke is in the process of putting security cameras in front of dorms. This decision—made by Student Affairs, DUPD and the Office of Information Technology—had been in the works for several years, he noted.
"The is something [Duke Student Government] has advocated for for quite some time," Moneta wrote in an email.
The reason for the decision was safety purposes, he explained, nothing that the cameras will not be actively monitored but will allow DUPD to review footage if an incident occurs. The installations will take a year and will eventually equip every dorm with a camera.
He added that the new electronic entry system allowing Duke students to enter their dorms by tapping their DukeCard to the card reader is "quite secure."
Similar incidents of intruders entering residence halls have occurred in the past.
In 2014, The Chronicle reported that an unknown man entered an unlocked room belonging to two female students on the second floor of Few Quadrangle at approximately 5:40 a.m.
Catherine White—a sophomore at the time and one of the female students involved in the incident—said she was surprised no DukeAlert was sent to notify campus of the male's presence. When she asked one of the DUPD officers she had been in contact with why no alert was sent, she said an officer told her no alert was necessary because there had been no robbery or assault.
“On the flip side, if we didn’t get this guy out of our room, what were his intentions?” White said at the time. “His intentions could have been assault or robbery…so that’s why I [said] just because he didn’t follow through with whatever was in his head doesn’t mean we shouldn’t warn people.”
In Summer 2013, The Chronicle reported that two intruders entered a female student’s apartment on Erwin Road at approximately 4 a.m. Again, no possessions were stolen, but the student reported that she awoke to a man standing above her bed, watching her sleep.
The Chronicle also reported in 2011 that a man entered an off-campus home near the intersection of Dacian Avenue and Buchanan Boulevard and attempted to sexually assault the woman living there. Moneta emailed the student body approximately one hour after the incident occurred.
Several burglaries have also occurred in the last two years.
In January, a student reported an armed robbery that occurred near the intersection of Wannamaker Dr. and Chapel Dr. at approximately 1 a.m. Two suspects reportedly approached the student with chrome handguns, took several items and left the scene in a red truck or SUV. No injuries were reported.
The University experienced an armed robbery on Central Campus in February 2015 when a student reported being stopped by a man with a handgun, who demanded the student’s purse.
The second on-campus armed robbery of 2015 occurred in July when a victim unaffiliated with Duke reported that two men with a handgun demanded money near the 301 Swift Ave. apartments.
In September 2015, Duke University Police Department doubled the number of police security officers on Central Campus after an armed robbery of a female student near the 1901 Erwin Road apartments on Central Campus.
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