Baxter stuck for 25 minutes before officers arrived
Imagine R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet.”
Now swap R. Kelly with a third-year international business student and turn the closet into the Thomas Cooper Library.
Just before 10 p.m. on July 31, Collin Baxter was listening to music on the main floor of the library while reviewing for one of his summer finals. When he saw a security guard pass by doing the nightly security sweep, Baxter knew that it was almost closing time.
He gathered his things and headed toward the front of the building. He checked his phone and noticed it was 10:04 p.m. He reached the door and realized something was wrong: not only was he all alone, but every door was locked.
“I called my girlfriend, and I was like ‘Nicole, I’m stranded,’ and she was like ‘You’re kidding me,’” Baxter said.
Baxter said that no one asked him to leave or notified him of the time, so he continued to study, thinking there were still people in the library. His girlfriend alerted USC’s Division of Law Enforcement and Safety, who came to let him out approximately 25 minutes later.
In the meantime, Baxter’s Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity brothers began hashtagging #FreeCollin on Twitter.
Associate Dean of Libraries Becki Gettys said that she was surprised that Baxter was stuck for such a long period of time since she said security has always been timely in these situations in the past. However, Gettys also said that “it’s rare” that students are left after closing time, since the library has extensive closing procedures.
“We start an hour before closing, making PA announcements with an hour left, 30 minutes, 15 minutes and usually at least one more time before we actually close,” she said. “We also make one announcement saying that the building is now closed.”
Aside from announcing closing time over the PA system, the library staff also does two rounds of clearing the building, in which staff members approach students on each floor of the library and tell them that the building is closing. If a student is wearing earbuds, staff will make sure to make an extra effort to ensure that they are aware of building closing. Gettys also said that the library did not have a record of the incident. In order for library staff to become aware of a situation of this nature, the police would have to notify them or the student in the library after hours would need to fill out a form that is left by the exit doors.
The form, titled “After Hours Library Pass” asks the student to provide his or her name, address, VIP number, university status, “explanation for remaining in the building after it has closed” and signature. The responding officer is asked to sign the form as well upon arrival.
Even though he was trapped for nearly half an hour, Baxter said he really didn’t mind the experience.
“I kind of enjoyed it. It was kind of fun,” he said. “I was spinning around in chairs and stuff.”