INITIAL ALERTEmail
Brown Department of Public Safety & Emergency Management — Timely Warning: Breaking and Entering. On Friday, March 13, at approximately 9:00 PM, two community members notified the Brown University Department of Public Safety & Emergency Management of a Breaking and Entering into their dorm rooms in Vartan Gregorian Quad A. Both dorm rooms were unoccupied and left unlocked; laptops and iPads were stolen. A third student reported that a group of people opened his door while it was slightly ajar and ran away when they saw the room was occupied. The individuals were described as wearing masks, with one seen wearing Nike Jordan sneakers and tight black jeans. No students were injured. Community members are urged to lock dorm-room doors at all times, including when stepping out briefly. Anyone with information is asked to contact DPS at (401) 863-3322.
Issued the morning after the Friday-evening burglaries to give DPS time to interview the three reporting students before drafting community-wide language
Brown's Vartan Gregorian Quad — known to students as 'V-Dub' or 'New Dorm' — is the modern complex renamed in 2006 to honor Brown's 16th president; Quad A is one of two buildings in the complex
Suspect description (masks, Nike Jordans, tight black jeans) is unusually specific for a Clery warning and suggests at least one community member got a clear look at the intruders
Came at a moment of heightened campus-security review following Brown's December 2025 mass shooting, when DPS leadership had been [restructured and a security assessment had been promised](https://www.brown.edu/news/2025-12-22/brown-safety-security-measures-assessment)