With the space to house over 1400 students and the location of Rowan University’s buffet-style food court, Holly Pointe Commons is the biggest dorm on campus. 

This makes the building the most popular place for freshman students to be, as it’s where many of them hang out, eat and sleep. However, The Whit believes Holly Pointe is not as safe.

Since opening in 2016, sharing stories about living there has become common for students who once or currently reside in the dorm. While there is nonsense to be expected in a building that houses over a thousand 18-year-olds, we aren’t talking about that. We are talking about the crime that takes place there and that’s extremely concerning.  

The latest Rowan Alert blast was about a student who reported a male entering her dorm room in Holly and assaulting her. It was later discovered that he was one of six non-students who were able to trespass into the building.

According to Rowan’s crime log, since the start of this semester in September there have been 15 cases involving harassment, assault or trespassing reported in Holly Pointe. 

Reading this is likely unsettling for people who don’t live in Holly Pointe, just imagine how worrying it is for the residents of that building. It’s already hard for new college students to be living away from home, now they have the concern of their safety possibly added to other anxieties.

The problem is this: it’s too easy to get into Holly Pointe. This is why for so many of the cases reported, the subject in question is a non-resident. 

A couple of The Whit’s current editors can recall a time during the 2019-20 academic year when the door leading to A-Pod would not shut. It would stay wide open, allowing any person walking by to enter. There was no ID card needed to get in and there was no security guard posted to ensure everyone going in there belonged there.

In other words, there was nothing stopping a stranger from walking the halls of Holly Pointe. That’s concerning. 

But even when the entrance doors are able to close, there is such a large portion of the day when they’re unlocked due to the dining hall. In addition, there are often times students open the door for anyone waiting outside.

Earlier this semester, The Whit’s own El Laughton and Bryant Lopez waited outside each entrance door for a period of time and in the span of 25 minutes were let into the building 19 times. 

Knowing how easy it is to enter this building, it isn’t hard to believe that earlier this semester there was a student who lived off-campus reportedly running through the halls shirtless. 

With all this information, why isn’t there tougher security at Holly Pointe? 

At 220, Rowan on-campus housing owned by Nexus, there is not only security all day and night but a key fob is required to get into the building past 9:00 p.m. along with access to the elevators, stairs and doors to each floor. This isn’t to say this keeps out everyone who doesn’t live in the building, but it is a stronger system than Holly has.

The Whit believes that Holly Pointe’s security needs to be increased and it can be done if Rowan models the security plan from 220. Require a key fob for multiple points of entry, have a security guard posted there overnight. 

In a survey done by ADT and Clery Center, they found that 82% of students across the US worry about their personal safety on campus. Rowan must ease this concern by making Holly Pointe a safer place. 

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