College Residences Not as Safe as Parents Think

Nov. 27, 2006 — -- After the long Thanksgiving weekend, many of the country's college students are back in their dorm rooms.

While parents may think their kids are safe, Bob Stuber, "Good Morning America's" safety contributor, recently found some shocking holes in campus security.

Fraternity and sorority houses are vulnerable to predators. At a prestigious university in California, hundreds of students live in frat and sorority houses surrounded by high-crime neighborhoods.

College senior Elliot Kirschenmann said that three bicycles had been stolen from his residence -- and some say the crimes are getting worse and more frightening.

"Sometimes guys will like just jump out of a car and be like, you know, 'Give me, give me, your wallet,' or whatever," said sophomore and frat member Barry Rosellini.

Campus police admit that the neighborhood crime rate is consistently high.

But, they say, some of the crimes -- especially bike thefts and drunken assaults -- are committed by students themselves.

Stuber asked sorority sisters Sheri Butler and Loretta Paidla whether they could tell the difference between a student and a nonstudent just by looking at them.

"For the most part -- yes," Paidla said. "Age, the way they act, the way they dress."

But Stuber found that it was not so hard for an outsider to trespass into a college residence.

Posing as a stranger that needed to use a phone book, he easily talked his way into a sorority house and minutes later, did the same at a fraternity house.

Another ploy commonly used is to wait behind a legitimate dorm resident until they unlock the front door, then slip in and roam the hallways. Stuber noticed a handful of student houses with their front doors purposely propped open.

There are windows of criminal opportunity everywhere.

Rooms can be broken into through fire escapes and balconies. Intruders can lower themselves from the roof and step on the air conditioner to climb into an open window, or gain access by stepping on a fence.