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Reports retrieved by the Review indicate that William Curry, the imposter who recently roamed Stanford’s campus for over a year, has returned and is residing in the campus dorms of Governor’s Corner (GovCo). Last week, multiple students living in GovCo reported spotting Curry back on campus.
On April 6th, two students went to play pool in one of the GovCo common spaces around 12:30 am, but they were surprised to find that the door was locked. After knocking repeatedly, the door was opened by a man who the students later recognized as William Curry.
Later that day, one source, a resident of GovCo, said that he and his friend began speaking with Curry after he joined their conversation about the television show “Suits.” Curry had supposedly enjoyed the show, and that topic initiated a thirty minute conversation with the nebulous Stanford imposter. One thing that Curry, who now goes by the name “David,” talked about was using Tinder despite currently seeing someone—a strange confession, but not out of character for someone who dated a Stanford student while secretly living in dorm basements. The students also recalled that Curry was watching poker strategy videos in the room; Curry still routinely posts about poker on his Instagram account.
Toward the end of the conversation, our source asked Curry: “You’re not from [GovCo], are you?” His response: “I’m just here doing my due diligence.”
The students at first did not recognize the person, but shortly after their talk, the students realized that the man they had spoken with resembled Curry himself. They quickly searched Curry’s Instagram account, immediately making the connection that the man was, in fact, William Curry.
It all adds up. He had been watching poker on the TV, something that Curry is known to enjoy. Additionally, Curry was known to have lived in GovCo last spring: Suites dining is notoriously lax on swiping students in, so he could blend in without needing a keycard. And Curry has shown in the past his comfort with sleeping in common spaces and stealing from dorms.
In fact, another report says that one student in GovCo had lost her blanket after recently washing it. They discovered the blanket days later on the couch on which they now suspect Curry might have been sleeping.
In November of last year, Crothers Hall residents discovered that a stranger had been living in their basement. For over a year, William Curry posed as a track and field recruit, a transfer from Duke, and pre-med student. He jumped from dorm to dorm until he was caught for allegedly stealing a television from Crothers Hall and was finally removed. Given that Curry had managed to return to campus over five times despite warnings, the University said that he would be arrested if he was found on campus again.
But it looks like Curry is calling Stanford’s bluff.
The University was initially criticized for their inaction after repeated incidents of Curry sneaking on campus. Stanford knew that this was happening for over a year. Moreover, contrary to assurances from the residential staff that they “don’t have any reason to believe that the person was a threat,” Curry was reported to have broken into dorm rooms and harassed a student following their breakup. But it looks like campus security has failed to catch Will Curry once again.
Students had told their Resident Assistants (RAs)—who then informed their Resident Fellows (RFs)—of the sightings of Curry. In response, Stanford’s Residential Education (ResEd) sent out an email to the RAs and RFs saying that Curry “was spotted in our residences again last night.” But, in a later email sent on April 10th, ResEd stated that “Our preliminary findings strongly indicate recent sightings of Curry were unsubstantiated.”
However, these “preliminary findings” had been released to residential staff before ResEd had even spoken to our source. In fact, no mention of this source had ever been made in the email. Considering that our source seems to have been one of the first students to interact with Curry and one of the few students who had a substantial interaction with him, this omission is deeply concerning. At best, this amounts to investigative negligence; at worst, it reveals a deliberate lack of transparency.
At this point, ResEd has reached out to our source. But residential staff should know that, contrary to the “preliminary findings” they received, Curry may very well still be on campus.
ResEd and campus security’s past negligence have put student safety at risk. Despite repeated commitments to implement more effective security measures on campus, the only outcomes have been an opaque line of communication and a greater sense of false security. Further investigations must thoroughly account for all student reports and be significantly more transparent than they currently are. It’s Stanford’s turn to do its due diligence.
