The lights are back on, the floor is clean and the smell has faded, but the signs hanging in Davenport A remind residents of the incident that occurred in the building’s elevator, leaving it out of service this weekend.
Both elevators in Davenport A were shut down from Friday until early Tuesday morning due to “vandalism” and “misuse,” according to signs hanging around the residence hall. But Director of Residential Life Bob Jose gave a more detailed account.
Jose said the Northeastern Police Department is currently investigating incidents that led to the replacement of approximately 75 light bulbs and the cleaning of feces in one of the elevators.
“Everything has been cleaned and replaced and we hope to not have an incident like this again,” Jose said.
For the past few weekends, students and Resident Assistants (RA) said they noticed light bulbs either shattered or missing from the elevators, leaving the elevators in the dark.
On Thursday, residents said they were surprised to find not cracked light bulbs, but something else out of place waiting for them in the elevator.
“The elevator doors were open, I walked in, saw the poop on the back wall and walked out,” said sophomore business major and sixth-floor Davenport A resident Josh Rose.
Even though Rose said he thought some of the vandalism was humorous, he said it went too far.
“The broken light bulbs are pretty funny. The poop on the walls … it was pretty disgusting,” Rose said.
As of Tuesday, Associate Director of Public Safety James Ferrier said police had no leads on the incidents, but are calling on anyone with any knowledge of the incident to contact NUPD.
“We are conducting a very thorough and detailed investigation with the hope that someone in the building will come forward with some information, either a name or an apartment number,” Ferrier said.
Daniel Quintal, an RA in Davenport A, said none of his supervisors had contacted him about the incident as of Tuesday, but said he is working with other RAs in his building to make students aware of the vandalism occurring and the effect it can have on other residents.
The elevators were shut down for four days, not only because of all the vandalism, but also because of the safety issue with the dark elevator, Quintal said.
Residents of the building said they were more concerned with not being able to use the elevator and the hindrance to disabled students than with their own safety.
“They shouldn’t punish the whole building for what one kid did,” said sophomore business major Adam Whelpley. “What happens if you are injured?”
To his knowledge, Jose said there was no one living in the building who was disabled and said he had not received any complaints from parents or students about the elevators not being in service.
Students who live in the building said the incidents make them feel embarrassed to live in the residence hall.
“I was pretty offended,” said sophomore English and cinema studies major Matt Filippelli. “People need to grow up. It was just a stupid move … people are causing a lot of problems that are making for a bad atmosphere.”
