Suspicious persons have been spotted on campus. They have been wandering a number of buildings and although their presence has been reported to campus police, they have yet to be caught in action. Action being the operative word here, because that is exactly what they are doing: getting action.

An urban myth to some, their existence is actually very much real. Students are having sex in the bathrooms.

“My understanding is that there are a couple buildings (the library and the Humanities building) on campus that are frequented by gay men for sexual episodes,” said Kamal Harb, a health educator with the campus Student Health Service.

The records of the SF State Police Department dating from July 20 to October 26 2004 mention only one incident that took place in the men’s bathroom on the 1st floor of the Humanities building. There, at approximately 12:45 p.m., “Two males inside the restroom stall,” were caught, “involved in intimate relations.” The incident was reported to the campus police but once they arrived on the scene, the mysterious love makers were nowhere to be found. In the police records the report is marked as, “gone on arrival, unable to locate.”

According to campus Sergeant Jennifer Schwartz, who has been with the SF State Police Department for eight years, the, “Humanities building is the only place I’ve ever heard of this occurring.” She added that over the past few years, there have also been instances of people caught “peeping,” two of which were arrested. In both cases, individuals had been caught looking over into bathroom stalls for the purpose of potentially hooking up.

Another concern Schwartz expressed was postings for sex on campus that she had seen on the Internet.

“We have received email correspondence in the past from non-students who have expressed concern at finding ‘casual encounter’ ads on Web sites such as Craigslist or Yahoo,” she said.

She cited one such posting made November 3, 2004 on Craigslist titled, “SFSU on campus now - Looking to suck dick – 26.” The posting stated: “Anyone on campus looking for some relief? Humanities 3rd or 4th around 5:00.”

Schwartz said, however, “without any specific location, law violations or suspect descriptions, we have difficulty investigating these claims.”

Harb said that all the incidents he knew of were between two men.

“It’s not because they’re gay,” Harb said. “It’s because they are men. Men have tremendous sexual drive. Regardless of whether you’re gay or straight, you’re going to find an outlet for that.”

“It’s cultural that gay men have very sexual adventures,” Karb said. “For the longest time before it was accepted gay men went into the bushes, and I think that has carried on.”