About 23 percent of students claim to have had sex in on-campus buildings other than residential bedrooms, according a Spectrum survey of 837 students.
It’s not unusual for students to have sex in on- and off-campus housing, but there’s a riskier group of students who claim they’ve had sex in public parts of campus. Anonymous students who took the sex survey said they’ve had sex in parking lots, Knox 20, a library stairwell, Baird Point, a biochemical laboratory, a Student Association club office, the Follett Campus Bookstore, the Stampede and even in the “center of the Bulls Stadium between the words NEW and YORK.”
Despite students’ stories, students having sex in a public location isn’t a major issue University Police is faced with regularly, according to Assistant Chief of Police Chris Bartolomei.
“We rarely receive such calls and it is not considered a common problem on campus,” Bartolomei said in an email.
One night during finals week last semester, Will Brown,* a freshman undecided major, and a girl were in her dorm room, under the covers – naked – and about to have sex.
But then one of her roommates walked in.
Earlier that week, Brown had created a bucket list with his friends – a pact that each of them had to have sex in an academic building at UB.
“When her roommate opened the door we quickly sprung to get our clothes back on before she turned the corner into the bedroom area,” Brown said. “We were able to get dressed and then we casually talked to her roommate for about 10 minutes.”
Brown figured this would be the perfect time to put the bucket list into action.
They told her roommate they were going to get ice cream from Perks, a coffee and ice cream shop located in the Atrium at the Ellicott Complex, to escape for some privacy.
Instead, the two went to the Millard Fillmore lecture hall in the Ellicott Complex for what many would consider “better than ice cream.”
Sex.
“After going in and scoping out the situation we turned off the lights and laid down behind the back row,” Brown said. “Before things could get intense, our bad luck persisted.”
Brown said a UB police officer strolled in with a flashlight, thwarting Brown’s plans.
“We hid until [the officer] went out one of the back doors,” Brown said. “Once he left, we tried sneaking out the other back door.”
The cop was waiting behind the door and questioned Brown and the girl. He let them off with a warning
“I guess it was worth the story,” Brown said.
In the spring of 2014, Lauren Greene*, a senior nursing major, wanted to add some excitement in her sex life with her boyfriend. They made it their mission to have sex in all the libraries on campus.
On a Saturday afternoon, they went to the Health Sciences Library on South Campus to study.
But not much studying took place.
Greene and her boyfriend went into one of the private rooms located upstairs on the second floor and got to business.
“We had to study but couldn’t do work before,” Greene said. “We had so much sexual tension.”
They started to have sex in the corner of the room so nobody walking past could see through the window on the door.
“We got really into it so I wanted him to throw me on the table,” Greene said. “He refused because there were other people in the rooms next to us. He was too scared we were going to make too much noise and get caught.”
When they successfully completed their mission, they went back to studying, believing they had successfully gotten away with having sex in the library.
Elizabeth Lidano, director of Judicial Affairs and Student Advocacy, said she hasn’t received a case in regard to students having sex in public locations on campus.
Lidano said in an email if she were to receive such a report from UPD, the guilty students would be charged with a violation of disorderly conduct.
Disorderly conduct is defined as “conduct which is disorderly, lewd, indecent; breach of peace; or aiding, abetting, or procuring another person to breach the peace,” according to Lidano.
“But, it isn’t something we are seeing,” Lidano said in an email.
At the beginning of the following semester, when Greene and her boyfriend went back to the library for the first time, they noticed signs on the private rooms reading, “Inappropriate conduct will be reported.”
While Greene’s story ultimately went unreported, Bartolomei said situations involving students, such as the ones described, would result in a student conduct referral to Judicial Affairs depending on the circumstances.
“However, under state law, potential offenses could include Public Lewdness, which is a B misdemeanor, or Exposure of a Person; a violation-level offense,” Bartolomei said.
While neither Greene nor her boyfriend ever received any information in regard to a report or referral to Judicial Affairs, they have a feeling their adventure is not so secretive anymore.
*Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of these students.
email: features@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Tracey Drury
