Officials said on Wednesday that GW Police Department and Metropolitan Police Department officers are investigating a camera “placed surreptitiously” that they removed from a second-floor Thurston Hall bathroom.
GWPD officers “immediately” took possession of a camera in the bathroom after receiving a report of the secret camera this week and launched a joint investigation with the MPD, according to a letter sent to residents of Thurston and Mitchell halls by Vice Provost for Student Affairs Colette Coleman and Vice President for Safety and Operations Baxter Goodly. GWPD officers searched all bathrooms in Thurston and Mitchell halls, and are continuing to search other campus residence halls with communal bathrooms, but have not found additional cameras or “suspicious items,” the letter reads.
Thurston and Mitchell halls are the only residence halls with communal bathrooms on every floor. Most GW residence halls have public bathrooms in their lobbies or basements in addition to private bathrooms in residents’ rooms.
“We want to be clear: Acts of voyeurism and invasion of privacy are illegal, deplorable, and a serious breach of trust in our shared community,” Coleman and Goodly’s letter states. “While this investigation is ongoing, we are limited in the amount of information we can share at this time.”
GWPD did not immediately return a request for comment on the type of camera officers found, whether police know who set the camera up and officers’ next steps in the investigation. MPD did not immediately return a request for comment on whether the department dispatched officers to the scene.
A first-year Mitchell Hall resident, who requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, said he was showering in a second-floor men’s bathroom in Mitchell Hall at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday when two GWPD officers banged on the door and asked him to leave so they could search the space. He said officers explained that they received reports of hidden filming equipment in the bathroom of a nearby residence hall.
The Mitchell resident said he saw the officers searching the fire alarm and smoke detectors on the ceiling. “Gwopensecrets,” an Instagram account that posts anonymous submissions from GW community members to hold “institutions of power accountable” posted a photo at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday claiming the camera was disguised as a smoke detector. The post also alleged the camera was pointed toward the bathroom’s shower areas.
D.C. police have indicted two American University students for voyeurism charges since 2022, both of whom secretly recorded students in campus bathrooms.
“As we continue to examine the facts of the report and the results of this investigation, we will take appropriate actions, including university and law enforcement accountability measures for any individuals determined to be responsible,” Coleman and Goodly’s letter reads.
