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Harvard student may get some time off to think about concept of social boundaries

The Crimson reports a senior faces a variety of criminal charges after allegedly breaking into at least two dorm rooms - and demanding that the occupant of one of them chat with him about his economics homework:

... "It is my sincere hope that the material taught in Ec 10 will provide a catalyst for discussion among students beyond the classroom," N. Gregory Mankiw, the professor of Ec 10, wrote in an e-mailed statement. "There are, however, better ways for that discussion to take place," he added.

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Comments

It was five hours into his 21st birthday...

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1)How did he get in? 2)Why was he allowed to continue roaming the dorm after what sounds like half-a-dozen-plus people were woken up or bumped into him? 3)Why was he able to get into two student's dorm rooms?

It sounds like he was heavily intoxicated, or having a mental breakdown. Maybe he was on medication for a mental condition and stopped taking it. Or maybe he's diabetic. It's hard to see criminal malice based off the (admittedly sparse) info in the article.

Much of it may have been prevented if anyone had picked up the phone and at least called the RA...or failing that, campus police.

When I was in college, we were told to always take note of strangers on our floor and if things didn't feel right, tell the RA or campus security. "Strange confused guy I've never seen before comes into my room and sits on my bed" seems like a damn good reason to call your RA or the cops. Our dorm room doors also locked automatically.

If someone had picked up the phone, maybe this dude would be in a hospital or sleeping it off in lockup, minus the criminal charges :(

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This:

When I was in college, we were told to always take note of strangers on our floor and if things didn't feel right, tell the RA or campus security. "Strange confused guy I've never seen before comes into my room and sits on my bed" seems like a damn good reason to call your RA or the cops. Our dorm room doors also locked automatically.

says it all...in a nutshell, Brett.

btw, I still remember an incident years ago, during my first year at graduate school, living in a dorm, and being cautioned by the dorm mother, or Residence Assistant. We were also advised to escort any guests we had over out of the dorm and to not let them wander around. There was an incident that same year (back in 1978), when one of the women in our dorm had a male guest over, and didn't bother to escort him to the front door of the dorm and out, the way people were supposed to do, under the dorm policy. The unescorted male guest wandered into the open-doored room of another young woman who was studying that evening, and this particular woman just missed being raped.....by a hair or two! Fortunately, through a cool demeanor and the use of her wits, the woman managed to get the troublesome, unescorted guest out of her room. An awfully close call, imho. Btw--have no idea whether the guy was intoxicated or not. My fellow dorm residents and I learned of this incident through the dorm mother.

Another grisly incident I recall that happened even before that occurred when I went to Northeastern for several months. I lived in a dormitory there, and again, one of the young women failed to observe safety policies for the dorm. The young woman had been sitting in the front lobby of the dorm during the wee hours of a Sunday morning.
A guy she'd never seen before wanted to get in, and the young woman, who was a dorm resident, naively let the guy in. Although nobody was molested or anything like that by this particular guy, the strange guy that the young woman had let in did a ton of damage and vandalism, including breaking one of the first-floor sinks.

All of the above having been said, I think that, in both instances, the dorm residents who'd broached the security of the dorm(s) were more than likely chastised strongly by the dorm mother(s), because, in either case, there were no other incidents like those.

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http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/

check him out, economics in English

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