I do wonder if she is still there and how others are treating her. There was just a story on the news about dorm living for adults in high priced areas. The emphasis was on cost but also communal living, sense of communty, interaction, sharing space and meals potentially. Wonder what the emphasis is in this Yale graduate residence and how often the residents interact,get to know each other, and also wonder about security issues in general .
For those asking questions about policy, I read on the Yale website that the common room closes at 10pm. I would imagine, though, that it isn’t uncommon for people who live in that building to still use it after hours. Or perhaps Ms Siyonbola fell asleep before 10. That would still be no reason to call the police, but perhaps that was the start of the altercation? Maybe Braasic didn’t know she lived in the building? I don’t know. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling there are some mental health issues at work with Ms. Braasic.
Regarding the ticket thing - who has ever had to sign a ticket? I certainly haven’t.
@Trixy34, In MANY jurisdictions, when you get pulled over for an infraction, they ask you to sign the ticket. It’s not an admission of guilt, it simply states you will take care of it (by either paying the fine or asking for a trial, etc.). People who refuse to sign are placed under arrest.
ETA: I actually have not been pulled over in 28 years, but I’ve seen a lot of YouTube videos on the subject. I’ve also witnessed my lead foot husband receive a ticket numerous times. ;))
We only see what happened after filming began. The whole thing should never have escalated to calling the police, even if the common room was being used after hours .
I’m wondering what the overall demographics of the building residents are. Are most of the students who live their white? Or is there a more diverse group? From Yale’s website, the bulding houses 168 grad student residents — with only a few openings each year – so fairly stable group.
If the woman who was targeted is the only black female living there, or one of only a small handful – then I think that I think it is a virtual certainty that the woman who called the police would have been well aware of her presence and recognized her as a fellow student resident.
Interesting about the tickets. I can understand being wary of signing, though.
Funny, cheerful response to the white woman in Oakland who called the police because some black people were having a barbecue in the place in the park where people go to have barbecues.
It sounds to me like she called the police because “you aren’t allowed to sleep in the common room” rather than because “there is a strange person I don’t know in the common room who might not belong here”.
I read it that way from a couple of recent articles, could be off.
I can envision a situation where the caller flipped on the light in the common room and the sleeper yelled at her to turn it of, leading to a round of territorial “You’re not allowed to sleep here” vs."I belong here and I can sleep if I want to!"s.
In any case there had to be a better solution than going nuclear and calling security.
The caller is no spring chicken. She needs to grow up and clue in. Makes me wonder if she is spending so much time in academia as a hideout for a reason.
Nobody involved here is any “spring chicken.” They are 34 and 43 year old women, both involved in academia for a while. There is nothing good here. If you look into Sarah, she seems troubled for a while, info online says she has been socially awkward, suicidal, etc. in the past. The other woman seemed to know about her potential mental health issues and called attention to that with the police. The complainant totally overreacted in calling the police . Hopefully, both women are going to be okay. The residence hall they are living in appears to be closing for remodeling and will be turning into an academic only building. The Facebook page for the residence shows a diverse group of graduate students . Most seemed to be more in the 25-35 type age range so the complainant , at 43, might have been an outlier. Just an unfortunate thing , as much a personal issue potentially as much as a racial one?
Hey now. I’m 43 and consider myself quite springy! 
@mom2twogirls, compared to most of us on Parent Cafe, you ARE quite springy! 43?!?! You’re a baby! 
Enjoy your springiness while you can @mom2twogirls ! It is fleeting! 
@mom2twogirls I’m 43 as well and not much of curmudgeon yet.
You start calling the police, your stuff comes out. You complain and your less than perfect stuff also can come out. Someone tapes you at either your worst moment or your best moment . Good luck with having your life dissected over a brief encounter. It’s a new world with all the filming . It’s a slippery slope (RIP Spalding Gray).
Where did you read that the common room closes at 10 pm @Trixy34? The grad student living handbook mentions quiet hours at 10pm, but nothing about the rooms closing then. That seems a bit early.
Here:
https://gsas.yale.edu/life-yale/mcdougal-graduate-center/common-room-mcdougal-graduate-center
But the listed hours have changed since last week. Looks like it now closes at 4:30. If you scroll down, it says after hours access is not permitted. But that’s why I said I would imagine people living in that building could access the common room later. 10pm is very early.
This page lists different hours:
https://gsas.yale.edu/life-yale/mcdougal-graduate-center/mcdougal-center-resources
I think the page linked in post #197 shows summer hours while the link in my post showed pre-summer hours. It would make more sense that hours are longer during the typical academic school year than during the summer. But it’s not clear whether or not those hours specifically apply to the common room or to the center as a whole.
Not that it is particularly relevant, but “hours” could easily refer to hours during which the space can be booked for meetings, not hours when it is open for residents’ use.