Beer cans, drugs, water bottles and numerous other items have been dropped by many freshmen out of the windows in dorm rooms this academic year. Most recently “a 16 ounce bottle of water was hurled out of a McKeon window, missing a student by mere inches,” according to an email sent to all students from Jenifer Campbell, director of Residential Life.

“At the beginning of the academic year there were several articles found on top of the lower roof. Individuals have been tossing items out [the window],” so, “[Residential Life] worked with Facilities to get an adjustment so we could close the windows so they wouldn’t open past a certain point,” Campbell said.

The adjustment was an effort “to make accommodations so folks will not throw stuff out [the windows],” Campbell said. Despite the adjustments, students still are throwing various things out the windows. According to Campbell, “recently, we found that the work had been done but there still were some windows that didn’t have the adjustment on them.”

Some students have complained about the window adjustments, saying that they can not cool off their rooms, however, Ana Zeneli, FCLC’ 18, thinks that the adjustments are fair and that the hall itself was poorly designed: “I think the windows should open how Res Life adjusted them. They did not put too much thought into the architecture of McKeon Hall or into the fact that immature freshman would live in a tall building. They did not think of an object falling from the height of the dorm rooms.”

Unlike the windows in McMahon Hall which open so there is a space facing up, the windows in McKeon hall open so that there is a space facing down. According to Campbell “[McMahon windows] only open up to a certain point. They were adjusted when they were built … They also have a adjustment but it is a different configuration.”

The side of McKeon which faces Midtown Manhattan has objects that people throw out their windows usually land on the roof of the law school. This is a hazard for students on the plaza and for the facility operations staff. The other side of McKeon Hall, which faces Uptown Manhattan, is directly above a sidewalk.

On April 21, “Someone threw a full 16 ounce water bottle and it went within inches of someone,” according to Campbell.

Even with the adjustments the problem of people throwing things out of McKeon dorms continues and as Campbell said: “We are one situation away from someone being really hurt.”