Though the attorney for the man charged with assault after entering the high rise room of a female resident said his client was acting in accordance with Penn guidelines, University policy strictly forbids facilities workers or contractors from entering student rooms without express need or permission.
Marshall Thompson, an employee of Penn Jersey Window Cleaning, a company subcontracted by the University, faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass, unlawful restraint, indecent assault and simple assault after allegedly entering the room of a female graduate student on Aug. 27.
Thompson was working in Hamilton College House when he allegedly entered the student's open room, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pressed the front of his body against her back.
According to the victim, he fled her apartment when she screamed. He was later apprehended in the lobby of the building.
Michael Contos, a Philadelphia Defenders Association attorney who is representing Thompson, said that his client was working within University guidelines when he entered the room.
According to Contos, "During the months that school is not in session," if maintenance persons are working on a floor with no public bathroom, they can use bathrooms in dormitory rooms "provided that they knock first" and that no one is there, he said.
"They're allowed to eat there; they're allowed to use the facilities there if no one is present," he added.
Upon reading a similar statement from Contos in The Daily Pennsylvanian last week, Phil Nichols, faculty director of College Houses and Academic Services and faculty master in Stouffer College House, was shocked enough to re-examine the policy himself.
"The attorney was dead wrong," Nichols said.
Explaining the existing policy, he said that workers "are not allowed to go into student rooms, particularly of occupied buildings."
Nichols said the University requires that facilities workers have a valid reason for entering student rooms.
"It's not just a policy. It's in their contract," Nichols said. "It's not something we decided and we're imposing on them. It's their contractual obligation."
The University's Occupancy Agreement states that staff members may enter students' rooms only "for the purpose of inspection, establishment of order, repairs, maintenance, inventory correction, extermination, cleaning or in case of emergency or other reasonable purposes."
Several students confirmed that in their experience, facilities workers enter dorm rooms only for legitimate maintenance purposes.
Nursing senior Maya Clark said that workers have entered her room, for instance, to fix a clogged sink, but that they would not be able to do so without a maintenance reason "as far as I know."
College senior Jeremy Hsu echoed her, saying that while facilities workers "definitely" enter his room for legitimate purposes, he is not aware of their ability to do so under all of the circumstances that Contos described.
Thompson, who appeared at a preliminary hearing last week, will be tried on Dec. 4.
Meanwhile, Nichols offered assurance that students cannot be disrupted in their rooms for bathroom stops or lunch breaks from facilities workers, no matter what time of the year it may be.
"They do not go into students' rooms. Period."
