Aibu To think the university's response wasn't good enough?

[Flixybelle]

My little sister is away at Uni in her first year and staying in halls. Today she went to get a shower (the bathroom is literally a foot away from her room and is a single almost aeroplane sized bathroom) and she closed but didn't lock her door. Later she walked past her room mates room and their sat on his desk was her necklace she had taken off for her shower and a bracelet that our Aunt (now dead)had given her which she had put in her jewellery box inside a box in her wardrobe.

She grabbed it back off the desk and went to tell her friends who told her to call Campus security, so she did. Security came and confronted the boy and asked if it was true he said yes, at this point another flatmate came in and said her purse was missing so they all went upstairs to the room and they found a stash of other peoples belongings packed up ready to leave for the Easter break.

The security team then told the girls (all girls just this 1 boy) that they shouldn't have left their doors open and because they had it was their own fault and the boy hadn't done anything wrong as he now had returned their stuff. My sister is obviously very very upset and feels that the security team have basically given this boy permission to steal anything if its not behind a locked door. They all share a living area and a kitchen. My sister was so upset and angry and just wants to come home but has gone to stay with her boyfriend with anything of value for a bit instead. I have said that she should make a complaint and contact the police for advice but the security told her she can't!

AIBU to think this is not ok? Yes she should lock her bedroom door but theft is theft right?

I don't think it is unreasonable to advise the students to keep their rooms locked. I'm afraid that is just common sense. Even if all their flat mates are lovely, trustworthy people, they might have friends visiting the flat - basically strangers to everyone else - and you will not always know you can trust everyone who is in the flat.

That said, campus security have not done their job, and the student who has stolen all that stuff should definitely face some sort of sanction. He has broken the law, and should face the consequences. At the very least he should be thrown out of the student accommodation.

I work at a university handling stuff like discipline and complaint cases. Our university would have called the Police straight away. Your Dd needs to report it to the Police.

Each university has slightly different procedures, but if she wanted to complain about the handling of the incident at my university she should approach the management of security and seek advice from the Student Advice Team or similar support.

Failing a satisfactory outcome, she should make a formal complaint. Please note that there is often a time limit as to when this can be made eg ten working days so check the complaints policy as soon as possible. Supporting evidence, eg Police Report and Witness Accounts will help back up her case. Some security guards are fitted with cameras so there may be a record of the incident, but from what it sounds, this is unlikely.

Oh, and I was at uni myself between 1984 - 1988, in mixed halls of residence.

It wasn't a new thing even back then.

When I was at uni our housemate stole from us in a shared house. We called the police and 5hey were very helpful, we were able to deal with the matter informally and the boy moved out. Your sister is an adult and is entitled to call the police.

Personally I think it's common sense to lock your door when you are having a shower.

Topseyt excellent point about the THIEF being in breach of HIS contract, surely there's something in the contracts about unacceptable/illegal behaviour

Do people mean mixed halls of residence or do they mean mixed flats/dorms within halls.

My halls were mixed but the flats within them were single sex.

Similar thing happened to me in halls back in 1998. I learnt to close and lock my door every time I left my room.

Mixed halls - ds is in one of 4 rooms off one hallway, 2 m 2 f, there are 3 floors with 2 hallways per floor so 22 rooms per unit with 2 kitchenettes. These are ensuite rooms though and I think where bathrooms are shared corridors are still single sex, or you can request one which is.

Brassbrass both my unis were mixed completely as it were. First year was basically a big house, we each had our own bedroom (door lockable) but shared hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom. Years 2/3 flats in blocks but flats mixed.

Second uni I lived out (single mum) but friends were in like normal 4/5 bedroom family house which again lockable bedrooms but shared communal rooms and hallways.

Locked bedrooms at night and if leaving building altogether but not generally when 'home'.

The usual food/drink/toiletries 'misappropriation' happened (rite of passage really) but nothing like this! And if there had been I'm confident both unis would have dealt with thief firmly and fairly!

Both my uni experiences were fab! Best times of my life! First time living in I ended up with a really good bunch, we ended up doing a 'pot' for basics (bread, milk, butter, loo roll etc) and each week did a shared meal taking it in turns to cook. As we had a wide mix of nationalities (Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Mauritian, Ghanaian, Samoan, South African, New Zealander) that meant getting the chance to try amazing new foods & recipes and learn first hand about the various nationalities and countries, inc different ways of celebrating birthdays and achievements. If everyone experienced this there'd be a lot less prejudice and ignorance in the world. sorry off topic

Agree with everybody else about calling the police, but just to add to the interesting sub-debate going on here, I was in a mixed hall of residence in 1980. And that had already been mixed for a few years, I think...

Definitely involve the police! Also whilst I'm sure they could threaten to sue/ evict your sister for breech of contract re: unlocked door, I think this is very unlikely. There is a common misconception that what is written in a contract overrides everything else, but this is not always the case, especially when the contract can easily be deemed unreasonable.

On a separate note: My uni halls were mixed but I remember being quite shocked when I went for the open day to discover that there were not even single sex toilets and showers! It had been mixed the 80s, although I think there had been separate blocks/floors for men and women.