Volume 67, Issue 8

IHP Student Injured in Altercation with Local Resident
by Alan Goldsmith

Shortly before the beginning of winter break, a Yeshiva student from St. Louis who lived in an Independent Housing Program (IHP) apartment on 480 West 187^th Street suffered an injury to his face after another individual attacked him at the building’s doorway. The student left Yeshiva to return home, and apparently will not return.  This is just the latest in a long list of incidents to occur at that building in recent months.

The incident occurred when the student, on his way to pray the afternoon services, held open a door to enable another individual to enter.  According to anonymous sources, the individuals’s father, allegedly a retired police detective with connections in the 34^th precinct, himself has been the subject of confrontations in the past with other Yeshiva students, who have reported his employment and other physical threats. His son, who is known to Yeshiva security, allegedly threatened students in the past, but had yet to use physical force. He does not personally reside in 480 West 187^th Street.

Upon holding the door open for the detective’s son, the student claimed that he became the target of foul language from the person he had tried to help. He tried to apologize, but the next thing he knew, he was out cold. In conversations with security and others in the building, he expressed doubt as to what exactly happened. It remains to be determined whether he was physically attacked, tripped and fell, or otherwise sustained the blackout and injury.

Security arrived on the scene to deliver assistance, though there is no specific guard booth on the block where the building is located. The student and his roommates lived in the apartment above the police detective and his son, who was alleged to have been involved in the encounter. Apparently there were numerous disputes between the occupants of the two apartments.

Aside from the student, who according to sources has no intentions of returning to Yeshiva, his roommates were shaken up by the encounter, and out of concerns for their safety, they were moved to different locations in university housing. The building has spoken to the retired detective, and the detective’s son is no longer welcome in there. Further, the apartment in which the students lived is not currently being used, and the lock on the door has been changed by security. Residents have noticed that in the aftermath of the incident, almost every hour a security guard drops by the building lobby.

The building itself has been a trouble spot throughout the 2002-2003 school year. Eight out of the 78 Yeshiva students who reside there have been the victims of theft, verbal abuse from tenants (including one all-night barrage in which students in one room repeatedly heard anti-Semitic comments), and now a possible physical confrontation. A Yeshiva student who resides at 480 echoed the belief that the building has safety concerns. “”We’re not privy to the same security as the rest of the university,” said the student, speaking anonymously. “Every other building in IHP has a security guard in eye-view. Without one we present the image that we’re a little more hefker. It doesn’t look like it’s a part of the campus.” 

Nonetheless, the student doubts that even a security booth would be of much help. “Would the incident have not happened if there had been a security guard 100 feet away?” asked the student.

The Student Life Committee has formed a special subcommittee on Security, chaired by Yeshiva College junior Danny Ackerman. “Students may take comfort in knowing that the Student Life Committe is working on an ongoing bases with the Departments of Housing and Safety & Security, as well as with members of the University Leadership,” emphasized Ackerman, “to ensure adequate safeguards and procedures are put in place to protect students both on campus and in the surrounding area. Additional patrols have already been implemented and students should begin to see a continued rise in the protective presence which surrounds them.”

On January 21, the second day of classes after the conclusion of winter break, a meeting was held in the evening at Weissberg Commons in which members of the Office of Safety and Security addressed students who lived in Independent Housing. Over sixty students attended the event, where Chief of Security Donald J. Sommers gave advice on how to avoid burglaries and other unlawful entries into one’s apartment, stating that burglars would likely not attempt to enter if the apartment appeared occupied.

“Lock windows and doors, turn the lights on, keep the television and radio on low levels,” said Sommers. “Try to get to know the people on your floor; those who belong and those who don’t. If someone gets on the elevator with you and doesn’t look right, get off the elevator.”

With regard to the individual involved in the specific altercation, Sommers mentioned that the gentleman suffered from paranoia, and was currently receiving treatment.

Operations Coordinator Ernest McNamee then spoke regarding fire prevention, advising against the use of candles, and fielding questions on why Stern students in Independent Housing were able to cook on stoves, as opposed to the prohibition of such cooking on Wilf Campus. On a whole, the incidents were downplayed, with the speakers focusing on techniques of prevention and interjecting humor on occasion to keep the meeting relatively lighthearted at certain times. ¨

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