STANFORD, Calif. — An Alabama man, who posed as a Stanford University student for nearly a year, was removed from the California campus Thursday night after officials determined he had squatted in at least five different dorms over the past 10 months.
According to The Stanford Daily, a resident assistant for Crothers Hall found William Curry living in the dorm’s basement late last week, but university officials had been aware of the imposter’s presence since at least December 2021.
The student newspaper confirmed that Curry is a Birmingham, Alabama, native, who graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in 2021.
A man falsely claiming to be a Stanford student has been living in a dorm for a month. He identified himself as William Curry, an Alabama native. Curry has been pretending to be recruited for Track @stanford for the last 3 years. My latest @StanfordDaily https://t.co/478ssXirTT
— Theo (@tab_delete) October 28, 2022
Stanford spokesperson Dee Mostofi told the San Francisco Chronicle that Curry was served multiple stay-away letters throughout the past 10 months, but he was escorted from campus after being accused of stealing a TV from the dorm’s basement.
Meanwhile, several resident assistants told the Daily that that Curry posed as a sophomore studying pre-med and falsely claimed that he was recruited to the university’s men’s track and field team in 2020.
Curry also claimed he was a transfer student from Duke University and was often spotted carrying a Stanford Track & Field backpack around campus, AL.com reported.
According to the Daily, Curry was previously accused of breaking into several campus dorm rooms and harassing multiple students, allegedly telling campus police at one point that he was homeless and “trying to escape the rain.”
As per the Los Angeles Times: “In a statement, Stanford officials said that although the university has protocols and policies in place to prevent non-students from entering and living in student housing, “the unique aspects of Mr. Curry’s persistence and ability to integrate himself with our student community has made it clear that gaps exist in those protocols.”
“We will immediately undertake a review to ensure our procedures do not allow for this type of incident to happen again,” the statement continued.
For more detail, see The Stanford Daily’s complete report.
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