In Carver residence hall a man knocked on the door of Howard University senior Vernon Edmondson. The man came in and asked Edmondson if he were hiding anyone, but did not look around and left when Edmondson said he was not.
"It's just because we have a visitation policy," Edmondson said. "It was the night before visitation started up this semester and they came in to make sure there were no unregistered guests past midnight."
Edmondson said that when the school's semester begins, no visitors are allowed for a certain period of time while students settle in to their rooms.
However, room searches jarred some residents. In Meridian Hill residence hall, another Howard student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she was awoken at 3 a.m. by a knock on her door. She said the man at her door did not say why he was there. He looked in her closet and bathroom and left.
This was one of many random searches conducted by the University earlier this month, starting at around 3 a.m. and ending around 4 a.m., students said.
Howard's Director of Campus Housing, Charles Gibbs, said his department has no comment on these issues.
Though some students were not bothered by the searches themselves, they disliked the schedule.
"I didn't feel like they had invaded my privacy or my space, but the hours were just unacceptable," the student said. She said she would recommend that any future residence hall searches be conducted "at a more reasonable hour. I'm a sophomore and last year I don't remember ever having been awakened at three or four in the morning for some kind of search," she said.
A friend of Edmondson's who did not want to be identified said that residence hall room searches are not unusual at the University.
"There are room inspections done in every dorm room once a semester to make sure people don't have cooking appliances," she said. "They want to make sure people haven't tampered with the smoke alarm. They want to check the status of the room."
The Howard University student newspaper, The Hilltop, reported that students planned a protest for Thursday, Sept. 18, outside the school's administration building, but building employees and other students were unaware if any such protest occurred.
"More people were at the flagpole for a Sept. 11 remembrance," student Laura Stimpson said of that week. "We were more concerned about that."
AU students said they would react differently than their cross-town neighbors were they to experience such a thing.
"If it happened at AU, I wouldn't let them in," sophomore Mike Pirog said. "I don't think it's fair, but if they have nothing to hide then they shouldn't worry about it."
Freshman Jason Eisman said any search would be a violation of his rights.
"It seems like it would be a severe violation of the Fourth Amendment, as they didn't have any reason to search, but I know a lot of times the Fourth Amendment rights don't apply at schools," Eisman said.
Other AU students agreed that room searches would be inappropriate. Sophomore Elliot Smilowitz called them "an invasion of privacy and just bad manners. I think that's just plain old ridiculous," he said. "At three or four in the morning people either aren't there or they're sleeping. If I have a test the next morning and I'm trying to get a good night's rest I don't want to be woken up by some R.A. who wants to look around and see if I have any alcohol"
