Bass glimpsed three-quarters of his face, she says, and thought he might be a student from one of her large lecture courses—but the suspect has not yet been positively identified.
Two months later, Bass says she isn’t sure that catching him and other men who peep in bathrooms is her only aim.
“The point is not just to get him,” she says. She and Morrisey now have larger goals.
WORKING FOR CHANGE
After hearing the stories of Bass and the other women in the complex, Morrisey volunteered to e-mail Cosgrove in December.
After an earlier meeting between administrators, police, and students after Bass’ peeping incident, HLS Facilities had installed a swipe card reader to restrict access to the fourth floor bathroom.
But Morrisey and the six other women working with her say they hope the latest series of meetings will bring about the sweeping changes they want: separate keys for different dorms in the Gropius complex, faster responses from HUPD, and improved coordination between HUPD and HLS.
The women say that HUPD issues alerts too infrequently and too late. But each incident requires a different reaction, says Catalano, who issues the alerts. The third incident in September and the last in December occurred just days or weeks after alerts had been sent.
“We felt that the advisory that was out there still got the message out...on what precautions students should take to deal with these incidents,” Catalano said. “There was really no new information to present except that another incident had occurred.”
HUPD also chose not to perform the fingerprinting that Bass says she requested after the December incident.
“We made a mistake, but it’s not a fatal mistake,” Catalano says, adding that the surface wasn’t ideal for fingerprinting.
Morrisey also says that Cosgrove should be better informed about peeping incidents so she can take the lead in responding.
Cosgrove was so swamped with meetings with Story Hall residents yesterday—“an emergency,” she said—that she couldn’t comment to The Crimson.
Morrisey calls yesterday’s meeting “productive,” and Catalano agrees. Cosgrove will meet today with victims of peeping incidents, and on Monday with Morrisey’s group to chart a course of action.
Still, no suspects have been identified.
“At this point in time, the investigation is inactive until a suspect can be identified and a positive identification can be made,” Catalano said. “Fortunately, we haven’t had an incident in two months, and we hope that that continues.”
—Staff writer April H.N. Yee can be reached at aprilyee@fas.harvard.edu.