Lock your doors and beware of strangers—or so residents of East Campus are being advised to do after a spate of robberies were reported on Sunday night.
Kristen Sylvester, associate director of the Office of Residential Programs, confirmed in an email to EC residents that a number of laptops and other electronic equipment were stolen from EC suites over the weekend.
James Kahmann, CC ’12 and a resident of the 16th floor of EC, said his suite had “a few computers stolen.”
“It’s really sad that the residents of EC do have to be more careful with locking their doors exterior to the suite, and their personal doors, and generally using common sense,” he said.
He and his suitemates haven’t learned any new information about the robberies. “At this point, it could be anybody, and the investigation is ongoing,” he said.
Kahmann expressed his hopes that “if anybody has any leads aside from the monetary value of what was stolen, people should help figure out who this is to save our student community.”
Other residents of the 16th floor—from which at least two suites had electronics stolen—have been taking precautionary measures in the wake of the incidents.
“We’re not going to leave our door open,” Emily Shea, CC ’12, said. “I’m not worried as long as our doors are locked I guess, but we have left our doors open in the past and will not be doing that in the future. It definitely is a little disconcerting if it’s Columbia students.”
“A couple of times we’ve just forgotten the key in the door,” Nikita Manilal, CC ’12, said. After hearing about the thefts while away from campus, she said, “I had a friend double-check the door—which I wouldn’t think of doing if this hadn’t happened.”
Sixteenth floor resident adviser Alex Frouman, CC ’12, advised his residents in an email to “ask people who they are if you see strangers in your suite and don’t leave stuff out.”
This weekend’s robberies are reminiscent of a string of thefts that hit campus in September. In the span of three days, students who had left their doors unlocked had property stolen from them in Hartley Hall, the Alpha Delti Phi fraternity house, and the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house.
In all three cases, laptops were among the stolen goods. Three suspects were charged with grand larceny by the end of the month.
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