After The Daily Helmsman revealed the existence of prostitution on campus last week, The University of Memphis went into action to fix the problem.
"The hole in the bathroom was patched up the next day," said Bruce Harber, director of police services. "The graffiti was also removed by noon."
A "glory hole" is a hole that is made between two bathroom stalls in order for people to engage in various forms of anonymous sex. In addition to the hole that had been drilled between the stalls in the first floor men's room at The University Center, a reporting team documented at least two men coming to The UC to apparently offer sexual services, one of whom agreed to perform sex for $15.
No arrests have been made in the case, which was reported in The Helmsman on July 6, and campus police said they have been hindered in moving forward in the case because of a lack of complaints from the public, according to Harber.
"We had not had any reports prior to the story being run," Harber said. "We don't have anything to follow up on. It has been quiet for us."
One problem that the police face is that there is always a lull in illegal activity after a story receives a lot of publicity, according to Harber.
Activity like this has been going on at The University for over a decade, and arrests have been made in the past, according to officials.
There is only so much that the police department can do without the support of the community in matters like this, according to Harber.
The police department has increased patrols in the area, looking for any more illegal activity, but there has not been any, Harber said.
If there is anyone with more information who would like to make a complaint to the campus police, they can be reached at 678-4357 or via e-mail at police Memphis.edu.
"Our hope would be that anyone would come to us when they see anything that looks out of the ordinary, so we can do something about it," Harber said.
"We and hopefully the entire University will be able to watch to keep it from happening again."
