STORY BY CLAIRE HUEG
Myth: I can leave after 15 minutes if my professor doesn’t show up
At 12:34, exactly four minutes after class was supposed to start, a classmate proclaimed, “We only have to wait another 11 minutes until we can leave!” Is she right?
Well, a quick look at the Drake Student Handbook will show you that no such rule is readily published. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t leave. If a professor doesn’t take attendance, feel free to head out the door. If your prof does, you might want to stick around. In either situation, they can lecture for any part of the class they made it to if they want to.
As with most attendance policies, it is entirely up to the professor.
Myth: Herriott is Haunted
A while back, a student committed suicide in Room 2 in Herriott Hall. The door was locked, and it was combined with Room 4 to turn both singles into one single. Years later, students still room there.
Kelanie Crosswait, a first-year and Herriott resident, firmly believes Herriott is haunted.
“The first weekend I was here, we were hanging out in Room 4 and talking about it. Then, it got really, really cold and other typical ghost stuff,” Crosswait said. She described the entire experience as “creepy” and “spooky.”
“The boy who sleeps on that side of the room said he heard tapping at the window and scratching at the door or inside the wall,” Crosswait went on to share.
Students who live in Herriott but don’t believe it is haunted tended not to have anything to say on the matter. When Alex Freeman, another Herriott resident, was asked to comment, he laughed off the entire myth.
All the parts of a haunting line up, what with the scary death, the campus cordoning off the room and students experiencing things that go bump in the night. For some, it is likely that Herriott is haunted. But, as with all things paranormal, no one can be sure. Until we have concrete proof, this one is going to stay a myth.
