IUPD confirms man entered Ball Hall through unsecured door before 4 a.m. encounter with resident

A man who is not affiliated with Indiana University got into Ball Hall through an unsecured door early Friday and tried to open a first-floor resident's door, according to IU police and the resident.

IU police responded to Ball Hall on Sept. 18 for a report of a suspicious person, according to a statement from the public information officer for IU Police and Public Safety. Officers found a man matching the description, who told them he had gotten in through an unsecured door, the statement said. Because the man said he needed medical attention, officers took him to a nearby hospital. He was trespassed from all IU property, and police reported the unsecured door to Housing and Residence Life staff, according to the statement.

Caylee Downey, a visual communication major at the Herron School of Art and Design who has lived in Ball Hall since summer 2025, said banging in the hallway woke her around 4 a.m. She said she put on a towel and opened her door to find an older man with bandages on his wrists.

"I say you don't live here because I know what these people look like," Downey said. She said the man told her he did not live there and asked her to call a hospital, saying he had been discharged. She asked how he had gotten into the building.

"He goes, the back door was open," Downey said.

Downey said she shut her door and called 911 while trying to keep the man calm. She said she then heard him at her door. "I can hear him jiggling the doorknob," she said. Her first name is posted on the door, she said, and the man began using it.

Downey said she only kept talking to the man because he would not stop. "I tried to just go to the other side of the room and try to just get in contact with the police, but he would just not stop knocking or trying to, like, wiggle my doorknob," she said in a voice message.

ballhall3 — Rear doors leading to a patio at Ball Hall. A resident assistant told first-floor residents Sept. 18 that the building's back doors can be "easily pushed open if not shut right." (Photo courtesy of Caylee Downey)

The dispatcher told her IU police had already been notified because other people had called, Downey said. She said officers arrived roughly 10 to 20 minutes later, around 4:30 a.m., and took the man to the front of the building. She said the encounter itself lasted no more than 10 minutes, and that she considered locking herself in her closet while she waited.

Downey said no officer spoke with her that night. "Nobody came and checked on me," she said. She said she cracked her door open once officers had the man, then stayed awake about two more hours, too afraid to leave her room for the shared restroom.

She said she messaged other residents on GroupMe telling them to stay in their rooms, and waited for an IU Notify alert or an email that did not come. Downey said she has received IU Notify messages about incidents in Bloomington. "Why can't I hear about what's happening in my own dorm building?" she said.

IU Notify is the university's mass communication tool for alerting students, faculty and staff to immediate dangers, such as severe weather, hostile intruders or ongoing threats, according to the IUPD statement. The statement did not say whether a timely warning or other notice to Ball Hall residents was considered. IUPD also pointed to its daily crime log, which the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act requires it to keep and make available.

Downey said after reviewing the IUPD statement that the incident called for an alert. "I think that the situation definitely warranted an IU alert," she said in a text message. "The person was banging on doors and trying to get into my dorm room. But I guess that is not worth it." In a voice message, she said an alert could have told residents to stay in their rooms until police had the man in custody. "We didn't know if this person was hostile or not," she said. She said residents on other floors were also exposed, because someone who came in through the back door could reach them without a key card.

She said Ball Hall residents should have received an update confirming the building had been secured. "I'm so pissed at that answer," she said.

Downey initially said no one from the university had contacted her. She later said her resident assistant had posted in the first-floor GroupMe, and that she did not see the message for about a day because her phone had signed her out of the app. At 9:54 a.m. Sept. 18, the RA wrote to first-floor residents that "everything is okay now" and apologized to anyone who had been frightened, according to a screenshot Downey provided. The message reminded residents not to use Ball Hall's back doors, which it said are "very tricky on fully closing all the way and can be easily pushed open if not shut right."

Downey said she believes the RA was off duty and likely did not learn of the incident until that morning. "So it's not his fault," she said. She said she remains unhappy with IU's handling of the incident.

Mike Perry, director of Housing and Residence Life, referred The Campus Citizen's questions about the door, alarms, desk hours and resident notification to IU police.

Downey said the back doors have been an ongoing problem, with students opening them and leaving them unlocked. She said that during the Groups Scholars Program in summer 2025, students let other people in through staff-only doors.

Ball Hall requires a Crimson Card at multiple points, Downey said. Students scan to get past the lobby, again to reach the dorm corridors, again to enter their rooms, and again for the restrooms and laundry room. The front desk is staffed only during set hours, she said, and staff were gone at 4 a.m. The rear doors are emergency exits, she said, and she does not know whether the alarms work.

The building opened in 1928 as a residence for nursing students and now houses about 325 first-year students in single, double and triple rooms. It recently underwent a $16.7 million renovation that added air conditioning to student rooms, rebuilt bathrooms and updated the building's infrastructure.

BallHall2 — A sign on a set of rear doors at Ball Hall warns that an alarm will sound if they are used. IU police said a man who is not affiliated with the university entered the residence hall through an unsecured door Sept. 18. (Photo courtesy of Caylee Downey)

Downey said that when she went to do laundry days later, she noticed a door to the basement administrative area standing open and a sign near the stairs that appeared disturbed. She recorded a video describing what she saw, she said, and when she came back up the sign had been taped back into place. Downey said she believes the man entered through that area, though she did not see him do so.

She said she has changed how she lives in the building. She does not leave her room after 10 p.m. unless she has to, she said, and she plans to bring a portable door lock from home.

Downey said she wants IU to send alerts about incidents in residence halls and to replace the rear doors. "Overcommunicate," she said. "You want to make sure your students are safe and they feel safe."

Downey's rent for her Ball Hall single this fall is $3,872, according to an IU account statement she provided. She said she owes almost $4,000 for the semester after financial aid and is trying to dispute the charges. "I don't make enough money to even afford the down payment," she said in a text message. She questioned paying for housing she no longer feels safe in.

"Trust your gut," Downey said, "and always have a charged phone."

Salsabil F. Qaddoura is the Editor-in-Chief of The Campus Citizen. She is an undergraduate student on a pre-law track with a minor in business and is pursuing a nonprofit management certificate. She is passionate about public service and volunteerism to better our communities and the world.

IUPD confirms man entered Ball Hall through unsecured door before 4 a.m. encounter with resident

Gary blackout through the eyes of IU senior Atlas Chavez

The city told Rocky Ripple to leave. The town stayed and saved itself.

AI in the classroom: Tool or temptation?