There have been three alleged accounts of harassment against women in Enterprise Hall. // Photo courtesy of Emma Fabilli

As of Jan. 31, there were at least three alleged accounts of a male knocking from door to door and harassing women in Enterprise Hall.

“I was scared because I realized then that he knew where I lived,” said Gigi Ortiz, a sophomore filmmaking and creative writing major. “He knew what my name was. He knew a couple things about me like what my major was, like my friend Sky.”

Moments later, the same man was caught lurking outside of Ortiz’s friend, Sky Hume’s, dorm.

According to three accounts from students, the man claimed to be looking for his friend. Immediately, he would “compliment” their name or appearance. After they shared their names, hometowns, majors and plans for the night, he would ask for their Snapchat or Instagram username. He then would confess to lying about looking for his friend and that it was an excuse to talk to the female resident.

“I was like, ‘Wait a second, who was the person you were looking for?’’’ Ortiz said. “And he said, ‘Oh honestly, I just saw the name on the door, and I thought you’d be cute.’”

He also asked Ortiz about her plans for the night, and she shared that she was going to see her friend, Hume, who lived in the same building.

Hume recalls what happened next. “Some guy was standing [outside Hume’s door], and he looked at me, and I was walking in my room, and I didn’t really think too much into it,” said Hume, a sophomore music business major. “And then, someone comes and knocks on my door.”

After opening her door, the man asked for her name, and she pointed to the name tag displayed on her door.

“Are you the girl that just came from the bathroom?” the man asked Hume. She replied yes and then asked him if he needed something from her.

“No, I just thought the name on the door was hot, so I wanted to come see who lived here,” he said.

Each resident in Enterprise Hall who encountered the man shared the same story describing the male to be Black with a tall athletic build, short hair, and goes by the name “Chris.” Both Ortiz and Hume deleted or blocked the man’s Snapchat username after the incident.

Afterward, they couldn’t find any social media or information relating to him.

“I thought it was weird that I couldn’t find him on Instagram,” Ortiz said.

Public Safety was unaware of this issue and has not received any calls or reports of this incident anytime between Jan. 31 and the present, according to representatives of the department.

“It is absolutely a place where [residents] need to feel safe,” said Geraldine Hart, associate vice president of public safety and community engagement. “It’s our home.”

“Residence Life works closely with Public Safety to ensure the safety of our students who live on campus,” reads a statement by Russ Smith, director of residential education and first-generation success initiatives. “Neither Public Safety nor Residence Life have received reports this academic year of any incident that matches the description you provided. We encourage all members of the campus community to report any suspicious or uncomfortable encounters, activities or incidents immediately to Public Safety, Residence Life and/or local police so that we can follow up and investigate.”

A main concern among students is that the “stalker” is targeting females that live in single dorm rooms.

“It’s the general idea of trying to find a girl that’s in a vulnerable spot,” said Maiah Massotti, a freshman English major who is a resident of Enterprise Hall. “Like if you live alone, relatively, what are you going to do?”

“[Students should] immediately call the emergency line [for] Public Safety [if this happens again],” Hart said. “The more contemporaneous to the incident, the better because we can get officers over there and hopefully find that individual in the residence hall immediately. So I would encourage this as soon as it happens.”

However, all of the female residents interviewed did not consider their interaction with the unknown man to be considered harassment or find any reason to call Public Safety.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you can’t believe what just happened to me.’ Not ‘wow, harassment,’” Hume said. “The problem is bigger than the school’s safety policies. [It’s] with how men are allowed to treat women and how it’s almost seen as normal.”

Some female residents were concerned about the harassment.

Hart defines harassment on and off a college campus as “anytime somebody feels uncomfortable or is made to feel uncomfortable.”

Massotti understands that some female residents feel scared to speak out in case they are listened to seriously or even told they’re being dramatic.

“I know some people are ashamed of it,” Massotti said. “Some people are scared … I think for most women, the fear is that people are going to say ‘it’s not a big deal, you weren’t harmed.’”

“We in Public Safety take this very seriously and we need to know about this,” Hart said. “Just making sure that we are consistently making sure that students feel safe. Not only that they are safe, but that they feel safe, because those are really two different things.”

Hofstra’s Public Safety encourages everyone with any information regarding harassment including but not limited to this incident to contact them.