“Dear Marist students:
We are writing to inform you that sometime between 3:45 am and 4:45 am this morning students reported an attempted break-in at one unit in the Lower West Cedar Townhomes. Students informed arriving officers that an individual started to enter the townhome through an opened lower-level window by pushing the screen aside. After being seen and confronted by the students the suspect retreated.
Marist Security were notified and local law enforcement, who were already on campus, responded and are actively investigating.
The method of entry, unsecured windows, is the same as the incident reported on 11/7/2021 in the Foy Townhomes and the 11/26/2021 incident in the Upper New Townhomes.
According to the students’ description, the suspect in this morning’s incident is a Caucasian male, slender build and wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt.
As these incidents illustrate, while the Marist College campus is a safe environment to live, study and work, we are not immune from the threat of crime. The college continues to fully support and work with law enforcement to resolve this matter and enhance safety and security. This evening, we will further escalate security presence and visibility, and add additional patrols of our residential areas on campus.”
This was an email received by students this morning from Marist Security. Yet again, a sophomore townhouse was the victim of (thankfully) an ATTEMPTED robbery. Had the students in Lower West not called the police on time, they likely would have had their house broken into just like the ones in Foy and New.
Might I first say how utterly embarrassing this is for Marist. Were two robberies not enough? How many is it going to take before the college actually does something to protect the sophomore students? Clearly, “increased security presence” is not helping. We need night vision cameras, alarm systems in the townhouses that will alert police IMMEDIATELY when a break-in is happening. We need better lighting in parking lots and around houses, patrol guards on foot, not just in cars. Once again, this is UNACCEPTABLE and we must keep sharing this petition and getting more signatures. We cannot let Marist see that we don’t care about this issue, we cannot let them think we will be appeased by a mere email. I want to be able to go to sleep before finals without having to wonder if my house is going to get robbed in the middle of the night.
In the mean time, this is my message to other students, especially in the class of 2024:
Please check all your house’s windows, primarily on the first floor. This is the third attempted robbery that happened on the ground floor. If your windows or door is broken, please call Marist Maintenance at this number and demand your windows are fixed:
(845) 575-3000 x2255
Do not prop open your doors, make sure your housemates take their keys when they leave the house, don’t leave windows open, and close your blinds so nobody can see what you have inside your townhouse. I continue to see people leaving doors and windows open, even at night. Please be careful and protect yourself. I wish I could say Security was protecting us, but clearly we need to take care of ourselves and ensure our houses do not become targets. There is only so much police can do to help us if we leave our doors and windows wide open for nefarious people.