GW bathrooms are once again becoming a popular place to have sex. The University Police Department has barred 12 men from campus in the past two weeks for committing “lewd acts” in University bathrooms.

UPD was notified in late September by employees in Corcoran Hall that “inappropriate activities” were regularly taking place in the building’s bathrooms, UPD Director Dolores Stafford said.

University Police identified dates and times when activity was most likely to occur and dispatched male plain-clothes officers to Corcoran during those times. The officers were approached by men seeking sexual activity. On Oct. 20, four men were barred from campus after they “approached or exhibited themselves within eyeshot” of the officers, Stafford said.

In another operation, UPD raided a Corcoran bathroom and found seven men engaging in what Stafford described as “lewd activity.” They were all barred. And on Oct. 29, UPD received an anonymous tip of two men “behaving suspiciously” in a Corcoran bathroom. UPD found one of the men and barred him.

This is not the first time GW has had to deal with sex in its bathrooms. In November 1999, a two-week UPD sting operation resulted in 20 men barred from campus after they solicited plain-clothes male UPD officers for sexual favors in Marvin Center bathrooms. UPD installed cameras in the bathrooms to monitor activity.

And on Sept. 21, a professor reported that two men were engaging in oral sex in a Bell Hall bathroom. The men fled and were not caught.

Stafford said no GW students have been involved in the sex acts this semester.

Men find their way to GW mainly through the Web site Cruisingforsex.com. The site identifies several “cruisy” bathrooms in Bell Hall, Corcoran, Gelman Library, the School of Management and the Marvin Center as good places for men to meet other men to have sex.

For example, a September update to the site says of the Gelman Library’s 5th-floor men’s room: “there are always guys there looking to get off. It is one of the quieter floors of the library.” The site also mentions the Corcoran bathroom, saying: “This bathroom is hot! There is constant action there all the time, every day of the week.”

The site’s users are conscious of the threat of UPD busts. An Oct. 29 post on the site’s message board warns: “Be careful boys, I saw some guys getting arrested by cops on Saturday afternoon. I would stay clear of GW restrooms for a while.”

Stafford said a description of a UPD officer was found written on a stall in a Corcoran bathroom to warn fellow cruisers.

Despite UPD efforts to curb the lewd behavior, Stafford said it continues to happen.

“We do it a few times a month and bar a few people,” Stafford said.