Sig Nu robbed of about $900 in property over weekend

The Sigma Nu fraternity was the site of a theft this weekend, as two unidentified males burglarized the house of Professors' Row between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m. early Sunday morning. There are no suspects, and it is estimated that $900 worth of electronics were stolen.

At 2:39 a.m. the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) received a call reporting the burglary at 92 Professors Row.

Witnesses report seeing two men smash a wifflebat into windows of the Sig Nu house around 2:10 a.m. Senior George Nitzburg and junior Dave Geisler were standing on the porch of the Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) fraternity house at the time.

The two "burglars" were estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old, both wearing baseball caps, t-shirts, and jeans, according to Nitzburg. One was tall and lanky, and the other was heavyset and had a goatee.

The two men walked around "inspecting" the house, Nitzburg said, before grabbing a ladder and opening a window at the left back of the house. The men threw out a window air-conditioning unit, reached through the window, and stole several pricey items from a double room.

A Nintendo X-Box video game console, a video game, and a Palm Pilot were stolen, according to the TUPD report. The items have not been recovered.

Members of the fraternity said they suspected local youths were responsible for the theft, but Sergeant Doug Mazzola of TUPD said they had not identified any suspects.

According to Sig Nu brothers, the incident was not an isolated one. Other problems with theft from fraternities have occurred this year and in past years.

"We have a policy: all doors, all windows locked at all times," said Ira Fox, the risk management chair for Sig Nu. "Anything that's broken into has to be physically jimmied open."

The incident was not just monetarily damaging. Incidents of theft "take a pretty fun atmosphere and put a damper on it," Sig Nu Vice President Andrew Sidrane said.

After the men left Sig Nu, Nitzburg said he and Geisler chased them down Professors Row. At first they could not find the men they were chasing after, and then realized that they were surrounded by a group of people running with them.

"We thought [the burglars] were up ahead somewhere until we realized we were in the midst of 20 [non-Tufts students]," Nitzburg said. "They were with us running after some imaginary person because they were [extremely inebriated]."

Geisler and Nitzburg confronted the men but found them to be uncooperative. "They gave us attitude and problems. You could tell they were trying to be aggressive," Geisler said. "They were trying to cover for the guys who did it."

As Nitzburg and Geisler tried to walk away, the group of men threw a wristwatch at Geisler's head. The two entered a nearby residence hall and lost the group of men chasing them. They called TUPD to file a claim when they returned to ZBT.

Geisler said that they were the first to inform the Sig Nu brothers that there was a burglary.

It took TUPD 10-15 minutes to respond to the call, according to Geisler, who said he heard other incidents of "townies" causing trouble on campus. While TUPD did not confirm the people who were involved with any incidents they responded to on Saturday, Mazzola did say that it was a "fairly active" night.

"There was a medical assist call on [Professors Row] and there was a larceny report on P-row and several others," he said.

Though TUPD says it will interview the two students who lived in the room that was burglarized, Sig Nu brothers are skeptical that the suspects will be caught.

TUPD "took down our names and information, and you never see the stuff again," Fox said. "It's a risk you take living on the first floor."

Members of SigNu do not have theft insurance through the University or their fraternity