Law students address trespassing incidents

Students from the UNC School of Law will meet at noon today to discuss how to balance student safety and public access to University facilities in response to two instances of trespassing last week.

School officials contacted the Department of Public Safety twice last week after students complained about trespassers on the school’s grounds.

Police issued one trespasser a warning and arrested the other after a background check showed multiple warrants for his arrest.

The incident has sparked a larger conversation about how much access the public should have to campus institutions.

As a public institution, the University cannot prevent members of the community from using the library and other facilities, but students want to talk about ways they can improve safety.

“What we have to do now is strike the balance between appropriate access and what needs to be done to continue to ensure a safe and supportive environment for students,” said Katie Bowler, assistant dean for communications at the law school.

Community members, including people who live at the local Inter-Faith Council for Social Services Community House, frequently use the computer and media facilities at the law library, said Shelly Mason, an IFC resident.

Mason said he comes to the library to read the papers and relax.

“I like to keep up with the local and national news,” Mason said. “Eventually I think I’ll branch out and read about law because I like to read about the old cases.”

Third-year law student Shelly Anand said she worries the debate over public access could lead to profiling of community members.

“I don’t think these individuals have any idea that all of these discussions are going on,” she said.

Anand said it is possible for students to feel secure at the school while maintaining public access.

“Poverty is very real and we can’t be responsible, as a legal institution, for criminalizing that poverty,” she said.

DPS spokesman Randy Young said students’ safety and comfort is the department’s first priority.

“If there are folks that are harassing or approaching students and displaying suspicious behavior, we ask that students let us know and we will investigate,” Young said.

“We really do need to take advantage of students, staff and faculty being our eyes and ears in these situations.”

Campus police responded to a complaint on Feb. 3 that a man was acting suspiciously in the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library.

Police questioned Mark Johnson and discovered that there were multiple outstanding warrants for his arrest in counties across the state.

Johnson was arrested and detained in Orange County Jail on Feb. 3. The next day, campus police responded to another report of suspicious activity at the school.

Bowler said two men were found rifling through refrigerators where students store their lunches.

After an official questioned their activities and the men left the building to smoke, the official contacted campus police. Police issued the men trespassing warnings which will last two years and prohibit them from being on UNC’s campus, Young said.

Anand said parameters should be defined reasonably.

“If an individual is homeless and they are trespassing or publicly intoxicated, then there are options,” Anand said. “But I think that calling the police should be a last resort.”

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