Although it can be a distraction or way to procrastinate when a paper is due, instant messaging proved to be a handy line of emergency contact for a female Marquette student.

A sophomore in the College of Engineering, who is employed by the College of Communication as a Macintosh lab assistant, was supervising the computer lab in the basement of Johnston Hall around 8 p.m. on Oct. 6 when a 39-year-old man not affiliated with Marquette walked by the door.

The man entered the room but remained in front of the door, blocking the only exit. He began talking to her in an unintelligible manner, the student said.

"I want to change the (team) name back to the Warriors," he said, according to the student.

"I could tell that he was clearly delusional," the student said. "He couldn't complete a sentence."

"He started creeping me out and I couldn't get him to leave," she said. "He told me not to call the Marquette cops; he would beat them up."

The man then made an aggressive gesture by making a fist and pounding it into the palm of his other hand.

She said she responded with "I'm not calling anybody."

The student said she had her laptop in the computer lab and was signed on to AOL Instant Messenger. Although there weren't many people online at the time, she was able to get hold of a friend.

She said she sent him an instant message saying, "Please Help me I need u to call DPS to the Basement room 003 Johnston Hall. It's an emergency."

The friend, Thomas Amosson, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, recieved her message.

"It wasn't the normal greeting that you get," Amosson said. "I asked if it was for real."

He said he confirmed it was an emergency and then called the Department of Public Safety.

While the student typed, the man became curious about what she was doing.

"I told him I was working on a paper," she said.

As the student waited for DPS to arrive, she said the man told her how pretty she was.

"Now I was really uncomfortable," she said.

She said she contemplated running past him, out the door and across the hall to the Marquette Tribune offices, but said she didn't because she was afraid.

However, DPS soon arrived on the scene.

"I heard a door open and I knew it was DPS," the student said. According to the female student, DPS entered the room and the man greeted them with a handshake.

The suspect has had run-ins with DPS in the past, according to Capt. Russ Shaw, associate director of DPS.

DPS escorted the man out of Johnston Hall with small use of force, Shaw said. DPS contacted the Milwaukee Police Department who cited the man for trespassing. The man was advised to stay off of Marquette property.

"If any one sees anyone who looks suspicious, call us and we will check it out," Shaw said.

The man could have entered the building at any time. The doors to Johnston Hall do not automatically lock until the last class of the day ends which, on Thursdays, is 8:25 p.m.

The student asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the incident.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 11, 2005.