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Two years ago, the Boston University Police Department began hearing more complaints about campus bathrooms. Then officers saw the writing on the wall.
Graffiti in a bathroom stall led the police to a Web site, http:/ /www.cruisingforsex.com, that lists popular places for public sex between men, including bathrooms at dozens of colleges nationwide. After logging on, officers learned that the site noted numerous lavatories on the campus as hot spots for the illicit encounters.
University police began carrying out undercover stings and, over the last two years, have routinely questioned men loitering in or around places named on the Web site. They also arrested approximately 50 men -- most with no affiliation with the university -- for indecent exposure or lewd and lascivious behavior in the bathrooms.
In a twist of technology, the same Web site that allows users to post messages about their "cruising" experiences has helped the police determine where the activity is happening, and to gauge the success of their operations to discourage it.
While some recent messages on the site indicate that men continue to meet in the bathrooms at Boston, the stings have apparently stopped others from seeking sex there. (One user wrote in November that cruising on the campus was "dead -- and dangerous" following a run-in with an undercover officer.)
Other institutions have also stepped up their efforts to curb sex in lavatories, a practice long common on college campuses, particularly in urban areas. Some of the approaches are similar to Boston's. At George Washington University, plainclothes police officers regularly patrol certain bathrooms and have barred more than a dozen men from the campus for lewd conduct over the last year.
Some colleges where cruising has been prevalent -- including the University of California at Los Angeles and the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota -- favor "sex positive" strategies that aim to curb cruising without resorting to undercover busts.
Although many cruisers are older men with no connection to the colleges they visit, the issue can be an especially delicate one for college administrators. Tuition-paying students expect to feel comfortable in their libraries and academic buildings, and some are offended by sex in bathrooms. But some gay students are quick to criticize the policing...