Stanford University campus
Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
December 27, 2023 ·  2 min read

Man Pretended To Be Stanford Student, Lived On Campus For Nearly A Year

Being a Stanford student comes with many perks and placement opportunities. But for this particular man, it came with a residential solution. Recently, a spokesperson for the University stated that a man had been impersonating a student of the University. Moreover, he had been living in several dorms over the last 10 months. In the statement, Dee Mostofi- the spokesperson for the University- mentioned that the Department of Public Safety had cited one William Curry for violating this law. He was found occupying a dorm in December last year.

Incidentally, this didn’t deter him, and he kept moving from one dorm to the other. At the same time, the police officers on campus obtained multiple stay-away letters, along with a prerequisite to citing someone for trespassing on campus. As it turns out, they had not been able to track Curry down until October 27th. They promptly escorted him from the campus. [1]

Stanford University
Image Credits: Unsplash

Man Posing As A Stanford Student Lived In The Dorms For A Whole Year

Mostofi also stated that the University had strict policies that were supposed to prevent non-Stanford students from residing in the dorms. But the man’s “persistence and ability to ingratiate himself with our student community has made it clear that gaps exist in those protocols.” Speaking to The Independent, Mostofi stated, “We will immediately undertake a review to ensure our procedures do not allow for this type of incident to happen again.” The Stanford Daily noted that the impostor had resided in around five dorm rooms. Furthermore, he was also quite familiar with several members of the faculty. Mr. Curry, a former alum of Alabama’s Vestavia Hills High School had been posing as a sophomore studying pre-med. He had also created a Tinder profile on campus and had been dating students from the University itself. [2]

The man posing as a Stanford student had been living in the basement for weeks. He was eventually caught while trying to sneak a television away. A staff member wrote, “The Crothers basement has temporary rooms that the university uses for students requiring a transition in housing- eg, a maintenance issue that makes it unsafe to stay in a room. On several occasions, we’ve asked for a roster of residents living in the basement and have been told that the request couldn’t be accommodated because it would be a ‘student privacy violation’ Without such a roster, we ultimately can’t verify who should and shouldn’t be in the dorm. This is a policy we have pushed back against and will continue to push back against.” [3]

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Sources

  1. Man falsely posing as Stanford student lived in campus dorms for 10 months.” Independent. Bevan Hurley. November 2, 2022.
  2. Man pretended to be Stanford student, lived on campus for nearly a year in elaborate hoax.” USA Today. Staff and wire reports. November 2, 2022.
  3. Man Pretended To Be Stanford Student, Lived On Campus For Nearly A Year.” Daily Wire. Dillon Burroughs. November 2, 2022.