JMU journalism students face trespassing charges

I hope the charges are dropped, but I also hope the students learned a lesson.
They were in the wrong.

 

Just glad they weren't trespassing in Sonner Hall. Of course, I'd drop all charges.

 

It depends on the dorms. If by secured, you mean a key is required, than yeah they were probably trespassing. But if you can walk right up to a dorm room, then there is no expectation of security.

 

That's absolutely right. If the building is open during certain hours, reporters are not doing anything wrong. Good for them for standing up to bully administrators. Ran into something similar in college. It's amazing how little respect administrators have journalists. They seem to consider it an invasion of privacy and harassment to ask people if they're willing to be interviewed. The folks at JMU should be ashamed.

 

Do they even have dorms that people can walk freely in and out of anymore?

Especially in Virginia?

 

Yup. In college, we knew the dorms were generally off limits, since all were secured as such. No sympathy for the writers from me; gotta know the rules before you play ball. This was passed down through the ranks as I went through college -- on both sides. I worked at the paper and as an RA in the dorms and both sides made sure those involved knew the rules.

 

Sonner Hall is probably where all the peeping toms live.

 

Naah. Just the people who get two-for-one at the movies.

 

Started at UVa in 99 and had a swipe card to get into the dorms. Doubt any other state schools have unsecured buildings.

 

Based on the JMU grads and Breeze alum I know, I would have guessed this happened in a strip club. Perhaps the beer room at Sheetz. Or a meth lab. Or a donkey show.

Anyhow, sounds like the writers in question have good ends but questionable means. Gotta work within the system.

Wonder how the disorderly came about?

 

That's just a rumor, dammit! Never been proven!

 

The key question is being missed, which is how the kids from the paper got into the dorm in the first place. If they were invited in by a resident or two for the purposes of allowing interviews then I think they're in the right. But if they piggy-backed their way in behind an incoming resident, then started talking to students, then they've got no leg to stand on. Still, it seems like the university is being awfully heavy-handed here. Escort them from the premises, bark at them a little, then send them on their way.