DARTMOUTH COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM UNIVERSITYUMass stumped by breaks: 10/ 1/ 2005UMass stumped by breaks
No leads or suspects in string of campus thefts
By LAUREN DALEY, Standard-Times staff writer

DARTMOUTH -- Computers, cameras and a scanner were among items reported stolen from professors' offices and laboratories at UMass Dartmouth the past two weekends, in what appears to be an ongoing thievery problem on campus.
The Liberal Arts Group 1 building, which houses history and political science, among other departments, was broken into last weekend, professors said.
The Group 2 building, housing the biology, chemistry and physics departments, was broken into the prior weekend, professors said.
Campus police declined to comment, and the university had not notified Dartmouth police.
"There are no suspects at the time; the matter is still under investigation," said UMD spokesman John Hoey.
No dollar estimate of the value of the stolen items was available.
Professors and secretaries from various departments reported the following items as stolen:
# A scanner from the office of political science professor Michael Baum.
# Laptop and printer from the office of biology professor Bob Griffith.
# A desktop computer and monitor taken from biology professor Eli Stahl.
# Items from various history department offices.
# Three laptops and a camera from various chemistry offices.
"The offices are set up so that if you jimmy your way into one, you could go through the windows to the other offices," said philosophy professor Phil Cox, whose office is in the Group One building.
Theft "keeps happening. Nothing is being done," said Laura Casasanto, editor of the student newspaper, The Torch.
She said The Torch had two Macintosh computers stolen this summer from its office.
"Someone climbed up on the roof and came down through the ceiling tiles. ... It's got to be somebody who knows this campus," she said.
Many UMD office doors have downward-slanting vents, similar to those on window shudders. The offices that were broken into had one or two vents pried off.
Professors said it appeared that someone pried off enough vents to stick a hand through, and unlocked the door from the inside.
Chemistry professor William Dills said in the Group Two building five or six offices were broken into. "This was two weekends ago ... I believe our department had three laptops and a camera stolen.
"Physics was broken into; biology was broken into. ... The laptops were all new," he said.
History Department secretary Sue Foley said a laptop was taken from a professor's office.
"The labs that were broken into were those where there was not likely to be anyone there," said Professor Dills.
"The Chemistry Department has asked the university for a change in how they handle security, such as janitors no longer unlocking certain doors in the morning," he said.
"I heard (biology and chemistry) got hit pretty hard," said Joann Gelfuso, philosophy and economics secretary. "I got an internal e-mail saying to be careful."

Contact Lauren Daley at
ldaley@s-t.com