A group of non-Mills students forced their way into a student’s dorm room and stole items from the room after the Toga Party on Oct. 22.
Large groups of non-Mills students were invited to the party through Web sites like Myspace.com and Facebook.com. The party was stopped briefly due to the large crowd, but continued and seemed to end smoothly.
After the party, junior Kassi Kappelos invited two of the young men from the party to her dorm room in Mary Morse. According to Kappelos, a larger group of unknown young men followed them up the hill and forced their way into the building behind her. After pushing into the dorm, the young men followed Kappelos into her room.
Kappelos said she did not know any of the young men who entered her room. Upon entering the room, the men began talking loudly and attempting to open her drawers and look at personal items.
Shortly after entering the room, Public Safety knocked on the door to address a noise complaint. Kappelos claims there were at least 10 men in the room with her and that Public Safety merely told them to be quiet and left. Mills’ dorm policy states that there are to be no more than six people in one dorm room at a time unless cleared with the RA beforehand.
Shortly after Public Safety left the dorm, the majority of the young men left Kappelos’ room she said. Upon their leaving, Kappelos said that her wallet had been left open, and her credit cards, driver’s license and $10 had been taken. Kappelos also said that her DVD player had been ripped out of the wall and a stack of DVDs was missing.
Kappelos said she was not hurt and immediately called Public Safety and asked them to stop the car at the gate. “they told me I had to come down to the tower myself because they weren’t allowed to stop cars at the gate,” said Kappelos. “I went down to the gate, but the car had already left.”
After speaking with Public Safety, Kappelos called the Oakland Police Department to file a report. Public Safety has declined to comment for this story. “I can’t give any names or details because we’re still investigating it,” said Director of Public Safety Dan Brown, before his last day at Mills.
The RA on duty was called about the incident, as was Associate Director of Residential and Commuting Life Lael Sigal and Dean of Student Life Joanna Iwata. “It’s always important to look at the different dimensions to the story. Based on the reports we were aware of the issues and that they needed to be addressed,” said Iwata. “We all have to be mindful that a situation can get out of hand.”
