A slew of recently reported thefts on campus has led Tufts administrators to step up efforts to educate students about the safety of their personal belongings.
This month alone several items have been stolen from Hodgdon, Miller, South and Wren Halls, including a bike, a TV and laptops, according to Carrie Ales, assistant director of communications and judicial affairs at the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife). Items have also been stolen from two Tisch Library lockers in recent weeks, according to Paulette Johnson, a Tisch Library administrator.
The latest rise in theft has perplexed university administrators in ResLife, who are unable to understand what forces are behind the recent uptick, Ales said.
"There has definitely been an increase since the beginning of November," she said. It's not just laptops but other items ... In these situations we don't know who is doing it."
No Tufts students have recently been caught stealing items from residence halls or the library, Ales said, adding that the thefts may have been perpetrated by those not part of the Tufts community.
"I would like to think that students wouldn't steal things from their fellow students and community members, but that is definitely a possibility," she said. "It's plausible that it's people from the outside. We have a very open campus."
Ales added that the phenomenon of "piggy backing" — people who enter a residence hall after a student has swiped in — might be to blame in part for the recent increase in theft in residence halls. She added that the university is working to raise awareness among students of this chronic problem.
"We are putting up more signage to get the word out," she said. "We're also sending emails to students in residence halls to remind them of their safety."
The stealing of belongings from two lockers inside the library marks the first time that these lockers have been broken into, Johnson said.
"We're working with [Tufts University Police Department (TUPD)] to get their advice on how to handle this," she said.
In one incident, the student failed to lock her locker after depositing her belongings inside, Johnson explained, but in the other incident, the combination on the locker appeared to have been picked. Library administrators sent an email to all students who have library lockers, reminding them to ensure their lockers are fully secured and not to leave their valuables inside, she said.
"Students need to be more alert and make sure the locker is really locked. The reality is that if someone wants to steal from a locker, they are going to do it," Johnson said. "We did everything to alert students that this can happen and that they need to take the precautions to prevent it."
The library's openness to the public makes it challenging to track down the perpetrators of theft.
"It's a public library," Johnson said. "We have no control over who comes in and that adds a level of not having the ability to secure or to monitor who comes in."
Senior Clinton Oxford was one of the two students whose library locker was broken into.
"On Tuesday night I placed my backpack in my locker and made sure it was locked," he said. "The next morning, I came to Tisch and only certain books were there and the backpack was gone."
Among the items stolen were Oxford's laptop and primary source documents he obtained in Oklahoma over the summer to be used for his senior thesis research on Cherokee literature.
Oxford went to Tisch administrators, who directed him to TUPD to fill out a police report. TUPD advised Oxford to monitor Craigslist for postings of laptops similar to his and took the serial number of his laptop so they could track it if it is found.
"[The Tisch administrators] told me I shouldn't have left my valuables in the locker," he said. "If lockers aren't supposed to secure your valuables, what are they for?"
Oxford believes that putting up posters and sending emails to students regarding safety is not an effective or sufficient response.
"Rather than simply putting up posters that incriminate students for putting their valuables in lockers, [Tisch administrators] can more proactively take security measures that don't just hold the students responsible for securing the library," he said. "The system they have in place isn't working."
TUPD Sgt. Robert McCarthy said that in incidents of theft, students should contact TUPD immediately.
"Our job is to gather as much information about each case that we can, depending on the circumstances," McCarthy said.
Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire urged students to remain vigilant regarding the safety of their personal belongings.
"Even though this is a safe campus and there is relatively little crime here, that can lull students into a false sense of security, and they leave their stuff unattended," he said. "It's really heartbreaking because Tufts students are trusting by nature."
If the trend of theft in residence halls continues, Ales said, ResLife might have to take more proactive measures to make students aware of the potential risks of living on an open campus.
"When we see a trend like this, we have to respond," she said. "We need to make sure students understand about their personal safety. They need to lock their doors and be mindful of belongings they leave in the halls."
"We would start to have town meeting−type events to talk to students about their personal safety and others around them," Ales continued. "If the problem continues, I imagine that the police would be involved in educating students."
