A trespasser has been staying in Casa Zapata and claiming to be a Stanford student since New Student Orientation (NSO), according to several residents who spoke with The Daily.
On Thursday, Assistant Vice Provost of Residential Education Cheryl Brown sent a campus-wide email about reports of individuals entering Casa Zapata and Crothers by tailgating residents as they entered the buildings.
The trespasser at Casa Zapata goes by “Noé Robles Alquicira,” according to an email sent to house residents by Associate Director of Student Support MJ Zhou Qian obtained by The Daily.
“The University does not have any record of a student by this name,” Qian wrote.
10 residents at Casa Zapata spoke to The Daily about their interactions with Alquicira, requesting anonymity due to fears of retaliation from the trespasser and general harassment. Residents described having friendly conversations with Alquicira about classes, freshman orientation and living at Casa Zapata.
“We were very well acquainted with him. We spoke about what it was like to be a freshman at Stanford. We spoke about the community that had been cultivated at Zapata thus far, and it really felt like he was part of the community,” one resident said.
Another resident claimed that he saw Alquicira at the Computing and Data Science (CoDa) building on Wednesday. Other residents mentioned seeing Alquicira eating meals in the dining hall.
“Whenever I would go to our lounge, which would be late at night… sometimes I would see him in our lobby asleep,” another resident said. “I didn’t really see that as strange,” they explained, because of his “Hispanic origin” and a welcoming dorm culture of “mi casa su casa.”
Alquicira’s LinkedIn page notes he is a Stanford freshman studying aeronautics and astronautics engineering. Several Casa Zapata residents mentioned they believed Alquicira was an intern for the Atlassian Williams F1 team.
Alquicira has not responded to a request for comment.
The suspected trespasser has been entering Casa Zapata and using residential facilities without permission, Qian wrote in her email to residents. She reported that the individual has brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing a dark grey hoodie and dark jeans.
“Unauthorized access into campus residences is considered a safety concern,” Brown wrote. Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) has been notified about the incidents and are actively trying to contact the individuals, according to her email.
The Daily has reached out to SUDPS for comment.
According to residents, the door to Casa Zapata’s lounge was not closing properly on Thursday. Brown noted students are not to allow non-residents, non-students or anyone without their own key or card to enter their house.
Stanford has dealt with issues relating to squatters or unauthorized guests in dormitories in the past. In May, an unidentified individual was found squatting in the Native American Cultural Center.
In 2022, an individual with no affiliation to Stanford was found staying in multiple University dormitories. At the time, the University did not issue widespread communication about the imposter.