Creepy 27-Year-Old Posed as Harvard Frosh Because He ‘Was Lonely’Last Thursday, a 27-year-old named Abe Liu was cited by Harvard police for "using a falsified identification card" and warned against trespassing in college dorms. It was apparently the first time he'd encountered the police—but he'd spent the semester posing as a Harvard College freshman, sleeping in friends' dorm rooms and even posing for a fashion feature in The Harvard Crimson, apparently because he "was lonely."
That's what he told the Crimson, at least, in an interview published this morning:
"I understand the position. [Students are] scared. It doesn't make any sense. They feel betrayed," he said. "I made a mistake. My mistake was being lonely."
Crimson Interview.
"I made a mistake. My mistake was being lonely."
ReplyDeleteUm.
In my neck of the woods, being lonely is the human condition.
ReplyDeleteI have a hunch that some one's already pitching this story as a movie.
ReplyDeleteHow sad would it be if you were 27 years old and still so immature that you can pass yourself off as a college freshman?
ReplyDelete@Beaker Ben. I have students who still freshmen at 27, so.....
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm lonely I pretend to be a college professor.
ReplyDeleteHe's the Jane Goodall of college students. It took him a single semester to learn to communicate like them. Step 1) Say it's your fault to disarm the listener. Step 2) ignore what you did that was wrong and say something pathetic instead to get sympathy.
ReplyDeleteHis mistake wasn't being lonely. His mistake was being a lying creepy weirdo. There are lonely 27 year olds all over the place. They aren't having slumber parties in college dorms!!! Learn to play chess and find a park - or better yet - go where all the other useless lonely people in the world go: Starbucks.
When I was an undergrad at SLAC, we had a similar pathological liar pose as a student. It was fairly clear to all of us frosh that he was an experienced, although not particularly skilled confidence artist. The bullshit stories, the not-quite-getting-the-lingo. Requests for lodging, money, and favors soon came with the bonhomie, and eventually someone notified Kampus Kops. Guy had quite a history, apparently. The solution was to buy him a one-way bus ticket to BigTown. This isn't a new phenomenon, and it should probably be covered in Orientation for the Frosh. Undergrads are an easy population to con. Young, naive, sympathetic, and at Harvard, they probably have a bit of cash.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't accused the guy of stealing anything; just sneaking in to and out of buildings, "impersonating" a freshman, farting around on Facebook. The only "creepy" element is that he's 27 and trying to pose as a Harvard freshman. People pull stunts like this all the time on the internet, claiming they did X or knew Y when nothing of the sort happened....and when they get found out, they lose their ability to BS on the message board.
ReplyDeletePeople have lived at the Harvard dorms illegally before; Sam Smith, the editor of the Progressive Review, was a Harvard grad in the 1950s. One of his dorm-mates dropped out mid-semester, became an encyclopedia salesman, lived in the dorm to the end of year. I'm sure that with some research you will find entire dorm rooms full of people living illegally.