Granville arrest made

Editor's Note: On Sept. 25, 2020, the criminal record of Collin Williams was expunged through a court order in Orange County.

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After a UNC student was arrested for breaking and entering in Granville Towers, University housing officials said the vast majority of breaking and entering crimes in residence halls happen in unlocked rooms.

Collin Livingston Williams, 20, was held at the Orange County Jail under a secured bond from 5:48 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. Sunday, a detention officer at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

According to an Alert Carolina message, Williams was accused of non-forcibly entering at least two rooms in Granville and climbing into the beds of the women sleeping there. He complied when each resident asked him to leave.

He allegedly tried to enter several more rooms before UNC Department of Public Safety officers apprehended and arrested him on two charges of breaking and entering, the report said. Williams does not live in Granville.

“Only residents have access to the building,” said Kelly Stasko, general manager of Granville Towers. “The student was a guest … disoriented about where he was.”

Stasko said one of the women whose room Williams entered notified her resident adviser, who responded quickly.

Stasko said there was no evidence of forced entry to any of the rooms. She said this was the first arrest of its kind she had seen in her 13 years of working at Granville. In general, breaking and entering complaints are not common in Granville, she said.

Granville Towers is an off-campus, independently managed housing option for UNC students. Though Granville is financially independent from the University, the UNC Department of Housing and Residential Education manages its residential life programs, and its community directors and resident advisors are Housing employees.

Rick Bradley, associate director of UNC’s housing department, said his department sees a few cases of breaking and entering each semester — including reports of theft from dorm rooms.

Bradley said all students, including those who live in Granville, are taught at new student orientation the importance of safety in the residence halls.

“Most of that starts with locking your room door,” he said. “I’ve been at the University for almost 20 years, and I’m not aware of any breaking and entering from a locked door.”

Stasko said it is a student’s responsibility to uphold the safety systems in place at Granville.

“The buildings themselves are secured with key fobs,” she said. “It’s up to every student to know who they’re letting in the building.”

She said the policies can be hard to enforce, but Granville does everything it can to keep students secure.

“Safety is a top priority for us,” she said.

university@dailytarheel.com