Beyond nickels and dimes Students pilfer convenience items in lieu of cash

Author: Rachael Jennings

When confronted with the question, "How big of a problem do you think theft is on campus?" many students are baffled, and respond with some variation on the same theme, "Wait, you mean here? At Middlebury?"

Indeed, at our serene mountain college, it is natural to feel perfectly safe - so safe that we leave our dorm rooms unlocked and easily abandon our backpacks at the entrance to the dining halls. But are we risking exposure to theft by assuming, somewhat naively, that security is a given?

"People tend to take the 'I doubt it will happen to me' approach," said Annabelle Fowler '10. "Unfortunately everyone has heard stories about missing bikes, laptops and iPods. This means that theft is definitely an issue, even though many may ignore it until it affects them."

Fowler, a residential advisor in Starr, observed that communal items like furniture and cooking supplies are often "borrowed" by students, but that these items are almost always returned after the Residential Life staff sends a building-wide e-mail regarding community respect and fines.

Caitlin Sargent '08 commented on the familiar pattern of students leaving bags, computers and personal belongings unattended in the library while running to the restroom or foraging for a book.

"We all do it all the time," she said. "It feels as though the library should be almost a sacred space for books and computers, but it just isn't anymore."

One Saturday night, while studying in the library, Sargent went to look for a few more books in the stacks. She felt perfectly comfortable leaving her Apple laptop unattended since she was only going to be away for a few minutes, but when she returned, her laptop was gone. After searching the library, no trace of it was found, and no one witnessed the theft, though one student commented that he saw an older man wandering around nearby.

In Sargent's case, the incident represented more than just a loss of property. The computer contained a great deal of personal information including her writing, e-mails, photos and friends' addresses.

"It is a new phenomenon to have every aspect of your life and identity stored in one place," said Sargent. "It exposes us to new vulnerabilities."

Hiba Fakhoury '09 speculated that people from the town might be involved in taking students' personal items - a theory that might be supported by the lost backpack of Kyle Alden '08.5, which ultimately turned up in the woods of Cornwall.

"Most laptop theft stories haven't been successful, which means they didn't stay on campus, or weren't being used here," Fakhoury said.

Still, these major crimes are relatively uncommon at Middlebury, at least when compared to other college campuses. A much more common phenomenon is the theft of smaller, "convenience" items.

Fowler tried to explain the situation by examining the reasoning behind the pilfering problem.

"If you're throwing a party and need seating, why not 'borrow' the chairs from the lounge?" she said. "Or if you have to get to Bi-Hall, why not take that unlocked bike? Dining hall dishes? They have so many. You want coffee in your room, you take a mug. Stealing at Midd happens generally not to keep things, but to use them for a specific purpose."

Nonetheless, some cases involve students taking items that are not so small. Last year, a group of students stole the fridge from the common kitchen in Battell and covered the wall where it used to be with poems and odes, much to the aggravation of the commons residential advisor and the maintenance staff.

Molly Eberhardt '11 recently spotted a group of guys stealing a dining table from Proctor in the middle of the afternoon. Often, school property is not returned until fire inspection recovers the lost items. ?

Even with so many anecdotes of theft on campus, there still exists a community vibe of conscientiousness. Fowler said that she and her friends made a late night trip to The Grille, during which she dropped her wallet, which included her cash and debit card. After backtracking, the wallet was still missing.

At about four o'clock in the morning, a drunken student appeared at her door with her wallet in his hand and all of her money still inside.

"I don't even know who he was, or how he tracked me down," Fowler said. "But this just shows that there is moral fiber in Midd students, and it shows even if they're under the influence."

For the most part, it is a great thing that students feel so safe on campus, but they should still be wary of threats to their idyllic certainty. Though theft continues to surface at Middlebury, students can help decrease the patterns by paying closer attention to their personal belongings, and making more respectful decisions. If the anonymous intoxicated student could return a wallet in the early morning, then we can all resist the urge to take that armchair from the lounge or grab that unattended bike.