No Security Guard in Yale Dorms - ?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>After browsing through this thread:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-2013/633977-dorm-curfews.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-2013/633977-dorm-curfews.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It basically sums up that there are no security guards like NYU (so guests don't need ID to be allowed in and out of dorms), no RAs to check and get you in trouble, and only frocos... </p>

<p>So my question is, is there a lot of stealing/crimes in Yale dorms? If anyone can get in, isn't that a bit dangerous? Is there a big security guard in Yale that all guests have to get through or something? Rooms are locked by key, am I correct? </p>

<p>I've lived in a dorm before, and safety is a big issue on my mind.</p>

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<p>I've lived in Cornell dorms ( wait! Wait! This isn't off topic!), and there are no guards.</p>

<p>What there are, are (wow, clumsy sentence construction....lol), doors that open only to student IDs that code for that building. Doors that have an alarm if the door is propped. Doors that record the time/ID of each entrance.</p>

<p>Why?</p>

<p>Because Cornell is up on the hill, and (as much as the administration hates to admit it), sort of isolated from Ithaca. There aren't likely to be many non Cornell affiliated people wandering around the campus dorms, waiting for someone to let them in. (Though I've gotten into Balch that way - w00t! She did NOT see that coming. That's another story)</p>

<p>Yale is likely the same way. My interviewer mentioned that when he was a student, there weren't locks on the door.....and then when New Haven went slummish/crime ridden, they instituted the same key card system. Yale is also (again the administration hates to admit this), removed from the greater New Haven area.</p>

<p>There aren't likely to be hooligans that wander into Timothy Dwight looking for trouble. They'd have to venture into another community - that actually does make a difference.</p>

<p>NYU is different because there is no campus. NYU's dorms are essentially buildings that the school purchased and turned into dorms from apartment housing (I think Palladium is the exception.....But then again - who lives there? Yeah. That's right.)</p>

<p>At every college in the world (maybe an exaggeration), individual dorm rooms will be locked by a key.
There's only going to be petty theft within the dorms.</p>

<p>You know - don't leave that wallet/ipod lying in the common room for weeks.</p>

<p>Because of high profile crimes (sexual assaults in Cornell's case/slum crime in Yale's) that detract from the image of the schools, they've committed lots of resources to protecting their students.</p>

<p>Cornell has the blue light system (which is awesome, btw), NYU has sec. guards, and Yale has secured dorms/LOTS of community outreach. LOTS. </p>

<p>If you just follow common sense, you'll be fine no matter where you go.</p>

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<p>Which brings to mind... </p>

<p>If you place your complete trust in the watchmen... who would watch the watchmen? </p>

<p>I'd be more afraid of security guards having access to every part of the building at all times of the day.</p>

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<p>^ Nahhhhhhhh.</p>

<p>Cops/Sec. Guards/other seemingly awful authority figures are really chill when you get to know them.</p>

<p>They're just regular people. That can get you out of jams like it's nothing.</p>

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<p>Hey can you elaborate on the bluelight system?</p>

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<p>Most housing access is from entryways within quads such as the residential colleges or to an extent, the Old campus. To enter the residential colleges, one must use a key card. Then your entryway has a lock and finally your room/suite has its lock. Theft does occur but it's relatively rare. Someone stole some money in a jug we had on our fireplace mantle sophomore year. Some buddies had teenagers rummage through their room (they had pretended to be selling candy or something earlier) our freshman year.</p>

<p>The bluelight system are emergency phones placed throughout campus for quick contact w/Yale Police. Oh yeah: no security guards: Yale has its own police force.</p>

<p>I grew up in an urban area so not much of Yale/New Haven scared me. Really, if either of my daughters wanted to attend, I would worry a lick.</p>

<p>In reality, random things can happen anywhere. A friend was assaulted by a complete stranger who attacked her in the middle of well-lit Beinecke Plaza a 7PM with about 50 people walking through. He was mentally disturbed and apprehended by other students. She was injured enough to have to withdraw that semester. But isolated incidents like that don't color how I choose to live.</p>

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<p>^ Yale has a bluelight system too? Neat!</p>

<p>Cornell's police come in two flavors: 1. Laid back 2. Stick up rear.</p>

<p>How are Yale's finest?</p>

<p>"In reality, random things can happen anywhere. " Amen.</p>

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<p>When I was in NYC we had 24 hour security at our dorms but I think that's pretty much because there was no campus and it was right in the middle of Manhattan. </p>

<p>Yale isn't like NYU. Most of the people roaming around the dorms should be students, unlike in New York where probably 1 out of every 5 people outside the dorm building doors is actually a student.</p>

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<p>So, to make things clear = no guest can come in without a Yalie opening the door, am I correct?</p>

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<p>^ Someone could always dynamite their way in. Or use a breaching shotgun. Or climb through a window like a ninja.</p>

<p>Relax.</p>

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<p>cafe, that's correct. Yale students use wallets with a place for their ID card on the outside. You see them waving their wallets to get in the gates to Old Campus, to get into their entryways, to get into the library, the courtyards to residence halls, etc. They prop their own room doors open at times, but only when in the room. </p>

<p>On Old Campus, anyone not between the ages of 18 and 22 looks really conspicuous, and would probably not have much success talking a Yale student in to letting them into a residence hall, unless they are a mom carrying a futon.</p>

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<p>Yale is NOT that separate from the rest of New Haven, though. Nothing like Cornell's set off. Or even Columbia's. Major New Haven street run right through the campus, and New Haven people walk to and fro across it all the time. It's an urban setting. Not as crowded as NYU or Harvard, because New Haven is smaller, and Yale is sprawlier.</p>

<p>The real dangers in life aren't street crime around Yale. Lots of people I knew at Yale (and I, too) had petty stuff stolen from their rooms, or got hustled for money on the street; a few actually got mugged. Two women I knew were serious crime victims while we were students there. One was murdered by her Yale-student ex-boyfriend. The other was on a camping trip with friends in the Blue Ridge Mountains when she and others were raped, maimed, and left for dead by a local psycho.</p>

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<p>I'm a freshman and I haven't heard of anything like JHS is describing. I'm not doubting that it happened, just saying it is not common. </p>

<p>Most of the people who talk about how sketchy new haven is are the people who didn't grow up in cities. From my experience, it is no worse than other cities. you just use common sense and don't walk around at 2 or 3 in the morning. (most of the crimes that get reported, and yes every time something happens the police chief sends us an email about it, they are students walking around at 3 in the morning off campus.)</p>

<p>you need your ID to get into any of the entryways. and you can only get into the entryways of your own college .you can get into the courtyard of any, but you can't actually go into any of the dorms. </p>

<p>My suite leaves our common room door unlocked and just locks the individual bedrooms, and we have never had any problem with theft, nor has anyone else i know. </p>

<p>also, when we say no RAs to get you in trouble, only frocos, that means that if the froco comes into your room and sees a microwave they aren't going to say something. If you or a friend is drunk and you ask for help, they will help you and you won't get in trouble. But if you are having a party and the entryways get clogged with people and they suspect alcohol, or even if it is just too noisy past quite hours, they will ask you to stop the party.</p>

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<p>Another thing that provides security is that at least when school is in session, the areas around all the dorms are essentially never deserted.</p>

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<p>I think the first case JHS mentioned is the murder of Bonnie Garland by Richard Herrin, back in '77. (Which happened in Scarsdale, NY....an otherwise idyllic stretch of suburbia)</p>

<p>It just seems to me that even with things like the Virginia Tech shooting, there's not an actual need for some proactive 'healthy' fear on a college campus - Those things are horrific to us precisely because they are unexpected; the random work of crazy people, as opposed to orchestrated criminal activity, terrorism, etc, etc.</p>

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<p>Goolsci, how much authority do the frocos have? As in, what can they tell you to do, and what can they not tell you to do ish... what are their responsibilities, etc.</p>

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<p>I'd say they are to act as benevolent caretakers. Not Big Brother but rather big brother and big sister. Not RAs that look to sniff out six packs of beer.</p>

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<p>Saves money while cutting employment
are those the cards with chips in them?</p>

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<p>bluewhite: are you implying that the use of key cards diminished the need for Yale Police employees? The key cards replaced the use of normal brass keys -- not people guarding gates.</p>

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<p>It did reduce that need. I mean, humans are human. A card... enough of that. I make little sense
It would be a better option than relying on guards. Anyways, the school cuts jobs and saves $$</p>