Escape from Corbin Hall

By Mike Nolan

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Spending the night in a place that strictly prohibits certain overnight guests, such as a sorority house or an all-girls residence hall, may seem brilliant on the way in, but exiting can be risky business.

For the brave rebels of shacking who do attempt stand up to the no boys allowed rule, the getaway sometimes proves to be dangerous.

Eric Bethke, former student from Chicago, found himself in one of these hazardous scenarios. Four years ago, Bethke had a long evening of socializing with his friends at the Jayhawk Café on a Wednesday night.

“I was having an awesome time,” Bethke said.

Bethke brought that awesome time back to Corbin Hall, 420 W. 11th St. Then he woke up in the morning.

He realized he was not allowed to be there on a Thursday morning

Bethke said he was talking to a girl the last hour while he was at the Hawk, and she invited to stay in her room at Corbin. Corbin Hall, an all-girls residence, prohibits men from spending the night on weeknights. According to the Diana Robertson, director of the Department of Student Housing, the women who live at Corbin vote on visitation hours and have consistently voted to have restricted visitation unlike the co-ed residence halls.

Behtke said when the Hawk closed he was in no shape to walk all the way home, which at the time was near Ninth and Emery streets. He said he was even further from being able to operate a car, so he didn’t really care where he slept. He just needed a bed.

“I really wasn’t being creepy,” Bethke said.

At 7 a.m. he knew needed to leave, but he couldn’t just waltz out of the room and walk through the halls like he owned the place. He had to plan an escape.

The resident advisor writes up girls who are caught with a man at Corbin Sunday through Thursday, which can carry a range of penalties.

“I’m pretty sure she didn’t think I was worth the penalty,” Bethke said. “I probably wasn’t.”

Behtke called his friend and told him he needed a ride, but all he said was not to come to the front, but to wait out back on Ohio Street.

“I had a plan but I didn’t want to explain it on the phone, I just needed to get out of there,” Bethke said.

Bethke opened the window of the second floor door room, and without any strategy or without giving any warning to the girl, he took a leap of faith.

As he fell toward the ground Bethke said he didn’t sense anything wrong.

“I was sure I was going to stick the landing,” Bethke said. “It wasn’t like it was the first time I’d jumped out of a window.”

Crack. That was the sound Bethke heard when his feet hit the ground. He knew something did not go as planned. He fell to the ground and started wailing in pain.

“Not one of my finest moments.” Bethke said.

His friend found him rolling on the ground in pain and helped drag him into the car. He took Bethke to Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the doctors confirmed that Bethke had broken his ankle.

Bethke said the embarrassment hurt more than the pain, and decided on his way home from the hospital that he would no longer jump out second-story windows.

“That was the end of my base jumping career,” Bethke said.

— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld

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