A man in a ghillie suit

At approximately 10:05 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 6, campus police was contacted by a female subject in regards to a male wearing a “ghillie suit” wandering around the second floor of Davies Student Center.

A ghillie suit is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble the background environment such as foliage, snow or sand. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area.

The female complainant asked the officer to talk to the male subject because she was receiving complaints about him from other people in the building.  

According to the report, as the complainant was calling campus police, the male subject took off the head portion of the suit so he could eat.

The complainant said the subject had not done anything threatening or aggressive. However, his presence in the ghillie suit was disturbing to some. The officer spoke with the Davies Center staff and was told the only issue with the subject was him wearing the suit in public.

The officer located the male subject wearing a green and brown, mesh and string, camouflage hunting suit. He introduced himself to the subject and explained why he was making contact with him.

According to the report, the subject did not have any warrants nor was he on probation.

The subject told the officer he had purchased the ghillie suit from Gander Mountain when the store had a going-out-of-business sale. He said he did not hunt but thought paying $50 for the suit was reasonable.

He told the officer he had worn the suit in his dorm in Oak Ridge Hall earlier in the day and was planning on wearing it to class. According to the report, the subject was not wearing regular clothes underneath the suit.

The subject made it clear to the officer he did not have any weapons on him.

When the officer asked the subject if anyone had said anything to him about wearing the suit, the subject said he did not receive any inappropriate comments. He said people gave him strange looks and said it was odd.

The subject did not provide a specific reason for why he was wearing the suit, other than he wanted to.

The officer told the subject that although he was not asking him to change now, he requested that he not wear the suit to class or around campus anymore as it could cause a disturbance.

The officer explained how some people might view him wearing the suit in a hostile manner and wonder if he was going to engage in violent and/or illegal behavior. The subject said he understood where the concern was coming from and how it may look to others.

A verbal warning … this time

Campus police found two male subjects entering the construction zone on campus at approximately 11:01 p.m. on Oct. 6.

A campus police officer had observed two male subjects enter the construction zone from the Garfield Avenue hill, where they had gone around the fence located on the west side of the hill and ended up near the main entrance to Putnam Park.

Another officer was called in for backup and was heading toward the 500 block of University Drive.

While en route, the first officer said both male subjects had since exited the construction zone via the same way they had entered and last saw them walking eastbound along the 100 block of Garfield Avenue.

The second officer arrived at the scene and made contact with both male subjects. Both subjects were able to verbally identify themselves and told the officer they had been attempting to get to Putnam Rock.

According to the report, the subjects are both seniors at the university and did not have any warrants nor were they on probation.

The subjects admitted to entering the construction zone by going around the fence. They said once they observed the entrance to Putnam Rock was closed, they turned around and exited the construction zone.

The officer explained the ordinance violation in regard to entering construction zones on campus along with the safety concerns.

Both of the male subjects said they understood.

According to the report, the officer gave both of the subjects a verbal warning for entering the construction zone and advised additional violations would result in citations.