Tilton residents upset with 'overzealous' police action

The Tilton Hall residents accused of posting harassing signs in their windows by a resident of Lewis Hall have complained to the University about the treatment they received from the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD).

The students said they were upset that the TUPD made no introduction upon entering the hall, that students were yelled at, and that the department did not seem to follow any procedure, according to Tilton's third floor Resident Advisor (RA) Matthew Downer. The TUPD did not respond to repeated requests for interviews and would not release the police report.

After seeing an unclothed student through a window of Lewis, residents of Tilton's third floor posted four signs in the windows of student rooms reading "We've seen you naked." A Lewis resident complained about the signs to TUPD, who went to Tilton to remove them on Sept. 13.

The officer, accompanied by an unidentified man in plain clothes, yelled at people to remove the signs "without ever having asked them or explained to them what the issue was," said Downer, who called the police behavior "inappropriate." "As a freshman in the first month of school, to have a police officer banging on your door and yelling at you is really the wrong message."

Residents perceived the officer as unnecessarily hostile. He "came in here really pissed off, like he had a vendetta against us," said freshman Mark Sigall, who was in his room when another hall resident posted a sign in his window.

The officer knocked on Sigall's door, asked if a sign was posted on his window, and told him to "take it out," Sigall said.

"I really didn't do anything.... He tried to get me to incriminate other people on my floor but I wouldn't," Sigall said. "It was just a big joke.... It was really funny to see that people were that stupid [to leave the window shade up while unclothed], but the cop didn't seem to think so."

In the wake of this incident, Tilton residents complained to the Dean of Students Office about the police's behavior. Assistant Dean of Students Veronica Carter said Thursday that she would meet with Residential Life Director Yolanda King to discuss the case. She refused to comment further and said that her office will release a joint statement with the Office of Residential Life.

The main complaint of the Tilton residents is that police did not investigate the situation before taking action against them.

This was a "big misunderstanding and the police didn't need to be involved," Downer said. "I think that in this situation the TUPD was overzealous."

Before posting the signs, freshmen residents asked permission from Downer, who then received authorization Proctor Frank Nocito, Downer said. The signs weren't "directed at any one person and [weren't] meant as an insult," said Downer, who was present at the time of the incident but did not participate. "I truly believe the true intention of the signs was to try to get them to shut their shades."

As soon as the signs were posted, Downer said, shades in Lewis windows were pulled down. "If people on this floor liked seeing people naked, they wouldn't have put up signs." The signs were not meant to be an act of sexual harassment, Downer said.

Freshman Samir Aziz did not post a sign in his window but lives next door to one of the students involved. The whole incident "was a misinterpretation," he said.

"In the past, it was the other way around," Aziz said. "People would look through Tilton windows and see things."

Instances in which residents of Tilton have seen residents Lewis and Haskell halls are common. People see each other "hooking up, changing, and smoking pot," among other activities, Downer said.

"Everybody on these floors sees people naked, it's just that these people were vocal about it," Downer said.