Connecticut College’s Mission Statement reads as follows: “Connecticut College educates students to put the liberal arts into action as citizens in a global society.” To further this mission, our college embraces core values. One such value is “Adherence to common ethical and moral standards,” which hold the expectation that students will “monitor their own faithfulness to the principles of honesty and moral integrity.”
As of late, it has become questionable whether all Conn students fulfill this expectation. Within a five-day period — between September 18 and September 22 — three thefts were reported from Park House. The exact details of the thefts are confidential because part of the investigation process is to not have suspects predisposed to any information from an ongoing investigation.
Director of Campus Safety, Stewart Smith, noted that oftentimes students “feel that it’s a safe place here.” However Conn “is not a bubble. The theft on campus is a reflection of the community of the outside world. What happens outside happens here too.”
The façade of safety and community is the reason that many students leave their belongings unattended in the library, leave doors propped open and leave their doors unlocked.
Smith contends that it’s “irrational to feel so safe. Students are suject to what other people do.”
Some advice: “lock your door” and “let campus safety know if there’s someone you’ve never seen before in the dorm.”
One of the most effective things students can do is register their belongings with campus safety. The form can be found off the campus life webpage.
On the Property Identification Form, students may list the serial numbers of their electronics so that if something is stolen, there is more of a likelihood of their belongings being recovered.
Another thing students can do is register their computers on Lo-Jack. This program is incredibly effective; it pinpoints the location of your computer and is seventy percent effective in recovering stolen belongings.
So where do thefts occur on campus? Smith named the library during exam time because everyone is there and people leave their computers and iPods out. Another hotspot for stealing is the athletic center, and finally the Plex.
Smith distinguishes the Plex from other parts of campus because “the biggest population on campus has access to the whole Plex.”
This, coupled with the presence of floor parties, make it easier for a theft to occur.
“Students come here and it’s such a great time of their lives and they’re not thinking of the bad things that can happem [which] makes it easier for a thief to do what he does.”
When students do take proper precautions and change their perspective of safety on campus, “the less and less these problems will happen.”
Photo by Duncan Spaulding
