Ginny Weatherman

Timothy Conroy, 35, Kirkwood, Mo. Senior, has been asked to leave Hashinger Hall, where he currently resides, because of a past criminal record. Conroy plans on moving back home to Kirkwood with his family and picking up his last few semesters of school at St. Louis University.

The Department of Student Housing asked Hashinger resident Timothy Conroy to leave the building Monday.

Conroy, 35, Kirkwood, Mo., senior, said his departure was due to a previous felony conviction that happened seven years ago when he robbed a Quizno’s in St. Louis with a BB gun. He said a Missouri vocational rehabilitation facility made it possible for him to come to the University of Kansas.

“I came back to KU to finish up my degree in one semester,” Conroy said.

Conroy said that nowhere on the Student Housing application did it say that a convicted felon could not live in the residence halls. He said that he would hire a lawyer and planned to file a lawsuit against the University for a breach of contract.

Diana Robertson, associate director of Student Housing, said the University adopted a policy after a 1993 court case Nero v. Kansas State, which prohibited individuals from living in University housing if they had been committed or charged with a violent crime.

According to Student Housing terms and policies, a resident may be asked to leave the building if the resident’s continued presence in the residence hall may cause danger or a threat of danger to property, the resident, or others in the residence hall.

“Our duty is to balance the needs of the residents on the whole against the potential threat of one,” Robertson said.

Robertson said she could not comment on any of the specifics of any student’s situation in the department.

The application for undergraduate admission at the University does not ask any questions about previous criminal record. However, individuals would be asked in applying for a student hourly job or a full-time staff position on campus, said Lynn Bretz, director of University Relations.

Conroy said Student Housing gave him an eviction letter Monday stating that the department learned about his second-degree burglary in Missouri. Conroy is not allowed to visit Hashinger Hall or any Student Housing facility without being suspect to trespassing charges or arrest. Conroy said the contract gave him the right to appeal, but he did not plan on doing so.

Conroy attended the University from 1987 to 1992 but dropped out a semester before he was supposed to graduate. He said he had an opportunity to run his own dry cleaning business in Birmingham, Ala., at no money down and a yearly salary of approximately $100,000. He said the job did not work out for him and he became a corporate client specialist at Nation’s Bank. He said he worked 80 to 90 hours a week, which caused his mental breakdown.

Conroy returned to the University this year to pursue a Bachelor of General Sciences degree in English. He said he wanted to pursue a master’s degree in library sciences — a degree that the University does not offer — at Missouri.

He said he chose the residence halls because it gave him the opportunity to concentrate on his studies and get on a meal plan.

Jonathan Doerr, Olathe freshman, met Conroy at the beginning of the year at Hashinger.

“We were just having a conversation about a movie when I met him,” Doerr said. “He’s an incredible human being; there’s really just no other way to describe him.”

Doerr said he will work to establish a law that explicitly states that a convicted felon cannot live in residence halls so that Conroy’s situation will not happen to anyone else. He said he will establish a petition through the Student Rights Committee to push the law.

Doerr, along with other Hashinger residents, passed out 300 fliers outlining their disagreement with Conroy’s departure.

Conroy said he was unsure where he would attend school next. He will return to Kirkwood on Sunday.

“I’m going to get back to school, get my degree and become a librarian,” Conroy said. “The reason I came here was to get a career.”