MASSACHUSETTS COMPUTERS STOLEN http://themhnews.org/2010/10/news/computers-stolen-from-academic-buildings

Computers stolen from academic buildings

Posted: Thursday, October 21st, 2010 | | | ShareThis

By MARIANNA NASH '11
      Editor in Chief

As of Tuesday, Oct. 19, Public Safety was able to confirm that 12 computers had been stolen from campus, most likely on the night of Oct. 16, Las Vegas Night.

Three of the computers were stolen from Cleveland Hall, and nine were stolen from Clapp Hall, according to Interim Director Barbara Arrighi.

“As best we can determine at this time it appears the theft occurred on LVN,” said Arrighi in an e-mail, encouraging anyone with information about the theft or who saw unusual activity around the two buildings to report it to Public Safety.

Officers responded to Cleveland Hall for a report of a larceny on Monday, Oct. 18 at 8:58 a.m., according to the Public Safety Log. The crime scene was inspected and access card records were obtained. There were no logged reports of a larceny in Clapp.

Arrighi, speaking on behalf of the department, said she would disclose more details as the investigation progressed. Investigator Kevin Fournier could not be reached for comment.

Adam Goodman, systems administrator for the computer science department, said he believed that only Macintosh computers were stolen from Clapp. The Macintosh computers were new, having been purchased in July and installed in September to replace PCs in Clapp 202.

Eight computers were stolen from Clapp 202, which requires students in computer science courses to swipe into the lab. One was stolen from room 218, according to Goodman.

Several of the machines in Clapp 202 were spared. Two PCs, a printer, a Macintosh with an “Out of Order” sign and a Macintosh that had been moved to another office were all safe.

Goodman added that new computers ordered early this week were en route, and that the College self-insures the computers. He expects them to arrive within a week and a half and be ready for use within days. In the meantime, professors are contending with stretched resources. “It’s not clear how it’s going to impact us,” said Lisa Ballesteros, associate professor of computer science. The stolen computers had software installed on them her upper-level students needed for an artificial intelligence project. “Today, instead of our usual meeting, we met in the computer lab and tried to install the software on our own machines … We also have a lot of students who needed those computers for programming assignments. Now we have two-thirds as many machines as we had.” As a result, the labs have become crowded and it is “harder to get work done.”

Audrey Lee St. John, visiting assistant professor of computer science, said that whereas 30 intro-level students had been sharing 18 computers in another lab, they would now have to share that lab with the upper-level students.

“There’s also the morale issue,” Ballesteros added. “A lot of the work we do is using equipment and software you wouldn’t find on your own machine or in Dwight.”

Ballesteros last saw the computers on Friday. Students told her they were missing on Sunday, but thought they were undergoing maintenance.

“I heard the computers in [Cleveland] L1, L2 and L3 are alarmed,” said Angela Wang ’13, a computer science major.

The door to Clapp 202 is old and “doesn’t close properly,” according to Wang, defeating the purpose of OneCard access. “It never really locks unless you pull it hard … I was once in there and a student was like, ‘can you let me in.’ Those [labs], you have to have a CS class account, not just an MHC account [to swipe in], but there have been people who asked me to sign in for them. It’s not well-regulated, I think.”

Computer Science major Kiri Bryant ’12 said that she was “kind of surprised.”

“I’m a little hurt that they took these computers from computer science students. Now everyone in the department is more alert about the labs, everyone is more cautious about making sure the doors are locked,” she said. “You hear about it happening at other schools, but you don’t think it will happen at your own.”

Disclosure: Angela Wang ’13 is the Asst. Web Editor for the Mount Holyoke News.
Sophie Heller ’12 contributed to the reporting of this article.