Third World House Vandalized by Dwayne Brice Last Saturday night, Third World house residents walked into their second floor bathroom and found that paper towel dispensers had been ripped out of the wall, all of the toilet paper had been removed from the stalls then used to clog the toilets and vandalize the bathroom, and an empty beer can had been thrown in a corner. “Initially, I thought it was a stupid prank. I’d heard that one of the resident’s shoes was taken and thrown into the bathroom, so some of us decided to go upstairs to see what had happened. And in less than half an hour (from the time the resident found her shoe missing), someone or a group of people had ripped the paper towel dispenser off of the bathroom wall, and thrown all of the toilet paper rolls into all of the toilets and into one of the sinks,” Residential Assistant and senior Maricar Camaya said. Third World House residents were left shaken by he incident. “Though there was little monetary loss from the vandalism, this event made me feel both agitated and unsafe,” sophomore Vida Vazquez said. This act follows a series of thefts that swept through south campus program houses over Winter Term. Items ranging from digital phones to laptops were stolen from locked dormitory rooms over the winter break. “This is not the first time something like this has happened. Over Winter Term, numerous residents of Third World House and African Heritage House had valuables taken from their rooms, with no explanation from ResLife other than ‘we lost our master key.’ This is ridiculous,” Vazquez said. Third World House residents reported that they did not see or hear anything while they were in their rooms and around the dormitory complex. “I just don’t understand how so much could have happened without anyone hearing anything,” sophomore Janice Reddick said. Students in Third World House believe that these recent events are indicative of the lack of respect that ResLife gives to the dormitory. “This incident brings attention to the fact that there is little to no institutional support for Third World Program House. I doubt this article would even be written if the author were not a Third World House resident. Unlike all other program houses, we have no faculty-in-residence who supports and plans our programming and works with ResLife. All house recruitment and programming is organized completely by students. Most students on campus have no idea what Third World House is and we are in constant danger of being shut down if we do not meet programming quotas,” Vazquez said. Members of the house are also dismayed at the Safety and Security’s response to the event. “The security officer that responded was lax. It did not seem like it was even an issue to him. The bathroom was not even cleaned for days later. The officer did not even offer his name. We should not have to ask who you are, we are the victims,” Reddick said. Safety and Security is still looking into the specifics of the incident. Director of Safety and Security Robert Jones said, “We are still investigating. If we run into a dead end, it might be turned over to the police department.” As a tight-knit community, members of the program house feel threatened on more than just a physical level. “I’m pretty upset with the situation not only because of the vandalism, but because it was specifically directed at Third World House, a safe space primarily for people of color. I feel like it reflects the lack of support for spaces like Third World House, institutionally and otherwise. This is one of the few places that some people can feel comfortable to express their own beliefs. That feeling was violated this past Saturday,” Camaya said. ResLife had no comment.

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