Fire alarms aren’t the main problem in McCollum Hall anymore.

Residence halls have become a haven for inappropriate — sometimes illegal — behavior, and this semester has definitely had its share.

“I’ve seen used condoms there a lot,” said Talal Alsahli, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, freshman. “They put them in the ceiling.”

Alsahli said he’s seen other strange things in McCollum this year. On his cell phone, Alsahli had a picture of soiled underwear that he saw on the eighth floor.

Another McCollum resident, Tariq Musa, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, freshman, said the ninth floor wasn’t as bad as others because women lived in two of the three wings.

“The furniture is upside-down all the time,” Musa said.

Musa said he expected to see that kind of behavior in residence halls because it could be boring otherwise.

Alsahli and Musa said that people have also used the elevators to urinate and defecate in.

Jennifer Wamelink, interim associate director for resident life for the Department of Student Housing, said major incidents like these are isolated.

“We don’t have a real repeated problem,” Wamelink said. “But everyone loses when students make the choice to damage property and then don’t come forward.”

She said the protocol for solving issues in the residence halls was to first try to find the culprit. If the guilty party doesn’t come forward, the Department of Student Housing has to absorb the cost of repairing or replacing the damage.

Wamelink said this would raise the department’s cost of maintenance, and thus, the cost of room and board for students.

GSP-Corbin Hall has become a problem area for students tampering with fire safety equipment. Wamelink said many fire extinguishers had been set off without anyone taking responsibility. Wamelink said any tampering of fire safety equipment could involve calling the police, and the department always replaced the equipment.

Eddy Tavio, Olathe freshman and McCollum resident, said damage in his hall was a constant problem, but someone always took care of it.

“Almost every weekend, it is trashed,” Tavio said. “Vomiting, ripping papers, but we don’t have to meet about it. Usually the RA’s take care of it, or the custodial staff.”

Vomiting in trash cans and stairwells is something Janelle Wehr, Olathe freshman, has seen in Ellsworth Hall as well. She said most recently there has been furniture shoved out windows and lost altogether.

Vince Avila, associate director of maintenance and custodial services, said he had dealt with misplaced bodily fluids this semester, and it was an uncomfortable problem for students and maintenance.

“When it’s something out of the ordinary, nobody likes cleaning it up,” Avila said. “You’d think at this age, people wouldn’t do that. It’s pretty ridiculous.”

Avila said every morning there was some type of vandalism in the residence halls that must be cleaned or fixed. He said about three pieces of furniture upholstery in common areas were cut up or destroyed each week.

Some of the furniture is so badly damaged that Avila said he thought students were picking up the furniture and throwing it against the walls.

Musa said the resident advisors tried to keep students from damaging property, or committing other offensive actions, but it seldom worked. He said he wouldn’t be living in the residence halls after this year.

“You have to go to the dorms to try it, but no more.” Musa said. “It sucks.”

Kansan staff writer Katy Blair can be contacted at kblair@kansan.com.

— Edited by Kelly Lanigan