The Brown & White

Shuai Yuan had just made one of the biggest moves of his life. After living in China his whole life and studying manufacturing at Beijing University, Yuan moved to Lehigh in August to get his master's in mechanical engineering. When he arrived, he stayed at a graduate student's house while he looked for a place to live.

On his second night in the U.S., he went to Mountaintop Campus to eat dinner. When he returned, his two fully packed suitcases were gone. Everything he had brought - almost everything he owned - had been stolen.

Police told Yuan a burglar had broken in through a window, taken his two suitcases and left.

"I remember them say, 'It's gone. They'll never come back'," Yuan said. "And they say finding your stuff is very tough."

Once the police left, there was nothing else Yuan could do. His clothes, photos of his family, contact lenses, even a change of underwear had all been stolen with little chance of recovery.

"Small gifts were stolen - jewelry, a bracelet from China, traditional Chinese things - you know that you can't buy here," Yuan said. "Those had some feeling, some memory, and they can't be replaced."

Yuan did not even tell his parents or friends back home what had happened or ask for any help, because he did not want them to worry.

"I never told my family," Yuan said. "Mothers are worried about you, so you can't tell them, you just say something good, you never tell them something bad."

With his suitcases stolen, his family thousands of miles away and not enough money to replace the stolen items, Yuan was about to start graduate school with nothing but the clothes on his back.

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Thefts occur at all levels and in all areas of the university. There were 71 on-campus thefts in 2006, or 9.16 thefts per 1,000 students and employees, according to statistics compiled by the Lehigh University Police Departmen.

The greatest difficulty in preventing or solving these crimes is that many are unplanned thefts, named crimes of opportunity, which occur when valuables are left in plain sight or in unsecured areas, said Chief of Police Edward Shupp.

Some thefts are larger, but most of the items are taken from unlocked rooms or unattended areas, such as a car with visible valuables, Shupp said. About half the thefts are from people affiliated with the school.

"Most thefts are convenience of negligence by the individual's part," Shupp said. "If somebody has a laptop in the library and someone decides to walk down to Pantry 1 or Campus Pizza and have dinner and come back an hour later - everyone would like to think that everybody would be honest. However, you just don't leave property like that sitting out."

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Two plasma high-definition televisions, valued at about $8,000 each, were stolen from Maginnes Hall in June of 2006. But how the large, heavy televisions were dismounted from the wall, disconnected and carried down from the fourth floor without anyone noticing is still in question.

"We don't know who's doing it, because nobody reports anything that they see," said Kathleen Butler, team leader of technology management for Library and Technology Services. "We don't know if somebody takes it out of a class, or if it's a townie. We don't know."

Records compiled by Butler show almost $25,000 in stolen property from LTS since January 2006. Most thefts are small, such as a keyboard or computer mouse. The larger thefts, Butler said, disrupt classes and cost thousands of dollars to replace.

Now LTS is more cautious. They are trying to prevent thefts with measures such as zip ties to secure inexpensive items like keyboards and permanently securing valuable equipment, such as the plasma TV screens, with security cables and cages.

When there is a theft, they send a technician to the site and call the police, who fill out the necessary paperwork. Butler said property recovery is rare.

Shupp said recovering stolen property or accusing someone of theft is difficult because they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were involved.

"Every case is followed up on," Shupp said, "but unfortunately theft cases are very hard to apprehend somebody unless we have good solid evidence and that's a tough thing to do. You can suspect that somebody did it, but unless you can prove it, they're not guilty."

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Despite best efforts to keep property safe, a single unlocked door or unattended item can result in a theft. Mike Davidson, '09, who is a member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity, left his house for the weekend last March, and his roommate left their room unlocked at a registered party. Sometime during the night his Xbox was stolen.

When Davidson later filed a police report, he said he did not feel the university police were helpful.

"They said basically that they were going to give it to the police township to give to pawn stores to check serial numbers," Davidson said.

Davidson said he did not lose money from the theft because he had an insurance plan that covered room theft, but had he not been insured, the theft could have caused more tension with his roommate.

Student insurance, such as the plan Davidson had, can mean the difference between a large financial loss and a minor inconvenience, and it covers other damages such as fire. Insurance plans usually cost between $80 and $300 a year, depending on both the amount of coverage, which can be as high as $25,000, and the size of the deductible, which can be as low as $25.

Usually homeowner's insurance that their student's parents own offers some protection, but deductibles from these plans can be as high as $1,000.

Insurance plans are highly encouraged by the university, said Ozzie Breiner, director of residential services. Breiner said most thefts could be prevented if students kept their doors locked when they weren't there. "If you're diligent about keeping the doors locked, there is not an issue."

When thefts or damage occur in common areas of residential buildings and no one accepts responsibility, Breiner said, the costs of replacing or repairing something is distributed between the students of that residential hall. Breiner said that these damage costs are standard for universities and outlined clearly in housing contracts.

Breiner said student payments for damage range from nothing to several hundred dollars, depending on the extent of financial loss to residential services' property.

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When Greg Blotnick, '09, left Lehigh and his Theta Xi fraternity house for the summer, he had taken most of his property home with him. He left behind what he could not fit in his car - a mattress, mattress pad and a box of school supplies. During the summer the fraternity house is locked, except to maintenance workers and cleaning services.

So he was surprised when he came back and everything he had left was gone.

"I freaked out," Blotnick says. "I looked all over the house to see if it was anywhere, and then talked to [former house president] Josh Regina, who said something similar had happened to him and said all we could do was to file a police report."

Blotnick said he thinks employees with whom residential services contracts over the summer stole his mattress, and that his case is just one of many thefts fraternities and sororities experiences every year.

"I pretty much accepted that my stuff was gone," Blotnick says. "I have no idea where the hell it is, so I just went out and bought a new mattress and just accepted that it was gone."

Theta Xi had additional thefts over the summer, said Theta Xi President Garrett Gray, '09, including the theft of a $1,000 video projector and Theta Xi memorabilia. Gray said residential services tries to prevent summer thefts but holds the fraternity accountable for failure to lock up valuables.

"They basically hold us responsible for it because, 'you should have done this,' " Gray said. "But what really can we do because we don't own the houses, so we can't lock it with our own keys, and they have their own keys."

Shupp, however, said with facilities open to multiple contractors and service people, there is no way they can hold any single group responsible for the thefts. Shupp said students are encouraged to move all property out of houses into rental storage containers so if students choose not to store property, it is their own responsibility.

"The doors are open all summer - somebody else could walk in while a contractor is there." Shupp said. "I'm not going to put the blame on OneSource or a contractor. We have to have factual information, but they're given opportunities and ways to prevent thefts from happening. You have to take some ownership on your own to prevent things."

Others fraternities report no problems. House president Brian Dillon, '09, of Delta Tau Delta fraternity said theft at his house has not been a problem this semester.

"We've just become conscious," Dillon said. "It's not as if I remind people every day to lock their doors, make sure you're doing duties. It's become second nature, if we have a party we lock our doors and everyone knows to cover their duties at the appropriate times."

Still, Gray said recurring thefts have occurred at Theta Xi almost every summer.

"I always get back and anticipate, 'what's going to be gone this year?' " Gray said. "It's really just something you have to accept."

•••

When students are caught stealing, they are sent to Chris Mulvihill. Since his appointment as the assistant dean of students of judicial affairs in 2001, Mulvihill has heard it all.

"I've had students brought here accused of stealing clothing from their roommate," Mulvihill said. "We've had cases as small as that. We've had students who have stolen thousands of dollars who have wrote bad checks from their roommates."

Mulvihill said he deals with theft cases after the police have finished the case. Then he arranges a meeting to hear the accused student's point of view. He usually sends him or her to a hearing before the university's Committee on Discipline. Proceedings are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but Mulvihill said stealing something valuable from another university member usually results in suspension.

"It threatens the community more if you're stealing from an individual, at least in my opinion," Mulvihill said.

Sometimes students have said they've stolen because they genuinely needed the money. But after talking to many students accused of thefts, Mulvihill said it was still hard to understand the student's motives.

"A lot of times it's not need," Mulvihill said. "I don't know, I don't understand it. Sometimes you get a student who has everything of their own, and still feels the need to steal from somebody else."

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The most effective way to reduce theft, Shupp said, is preventative measures, such as removing valuables from cars, locking doors and windows and securing valuables. Shupp also encouraged students to register property with the Lehigh University Police Department through their Web site to increase the chance of recovery.

"Every crime is a serious crime," Shupp said. "We investigate everything. And if people think they're marginalized, that's wrong. Every report we get, we follow up on. There are multiple officers in investigations, and we follow up on every crime."

•••

After Yuan was burglarized, his view on the U.S. changed significantly from his previously idealized perspective.

"You see from TV that America is beautiful," Yuan said, "it's safe and very good and a developed country. So I didn't think something would be stolen."

Now Yuan sees the United States as just another country with its own problems with poverty and theft. But as bad as it seemed, everything was not lost. When the employees of the graduate student office heard Yuan's story, they were shocked, said Kathleen Hutnik, director of graduate student life.

Hutnik's office organized to get clothing and item donations to Yuan through graduate students. Students who sympathized with Yuan sent in clothing donations for his size and donated some money to help replace his stolen property. Hutnik said they were pleased with the results.

"I think," she said, "we made him feel a little more welcome after such a bad start."

Yuan said he got about 10 shirts, 5 pants, a pair of shoes and a coat, along with some other necessities. He ordered new contact lenses from China and was able to find an off-campus house. Now with some more normality to his life, Yuan said he is concentrated on more typical college concerns, like getting a job and focusing on his studies, despite some difficulties with English pronunciations. Two months into the school year, Yuan said he is starting to understand the United States.

"There are poor people, there are rich people here," Yuan said. "I think that people here, almost the majority, are good. They gave me a lot of help, and I am grateful, and people here are nice."