The Collegian

Issue date: 10/8/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Michael Mayday Students "borrow" bikes from other students, often without asking. Some return them to their original location; some don't.

A week and a half into her four years of college, freshman Elena Salvatore faced a nightmare unusual at Hillsdale: her laptop was stolen.

On Sept. 9, Salvatore left her 15-inch silver Macintosh powerbook in the cubby holes outside the Knorr Family Dining Room after lunch. She went to class and returned two hours later to find the cubby empty.

"At first I thought it was a mistake, because it was in the ubiquitous black case," she said. "We seem to be a pretty honest student body, so I would think that after a certain point whoever stole it would have some kind of guilt and would want to return it."

Salvatore has reason to think it wasn't a fellow student who took her computer: the tables and chairs of campus are littered with backpacks, purses, laptops, textbooks that students leave out, trusting their classmates not to take their stuff. Other than the occasional "borrowing," Hillsdale students don't steal.

Or do they?

From printer cartridges to headphones to cafeteria oranges, students have proven themselves comfortable with stealing - from the school.

Saga oranges
In the spring of 2008, juniors Carl Avery and Theo Harwood had two recent purchases: large $1 sun hats from Wal-Mart, and a juicer. They were able to take out two bananas in the brim of each hat. But they needed more fruit for the juice they wanted to make.

So they tied strings to the hats and lowered them over the railing of the second floor of the Grewcock Student Union, down to the dining area below, where friends filled the hats with apples and oranges.

Avery said they acquired at least 50 pieces of fruit. Then what?

"Someone tattled!" Avery burst out in an interview with The Collegian.

General Manager of Saga, Inc., Kevin Kirwan e-mailed both men.

"It said, 'You're only allowed to take one piece of fruit out when you leave. And hats are for fashion. And for sun,'" Avery said.
Since then, both Avery and Harwood said they have experienced compunction for the fruit theft.

"I've thought about this, and I do think it's wrong. But I think it's like the speed limit. It's against the law to go over the speed limit, but we all do a little. Not that it's right to do that, but society accepts it," Avery said.

Avery didn't renounce the practice of stealing food items from Saga, but Harwood seemed more reluctant to try it again.

"If we found a really awesome piece of clothing that would hold a ton of fruit, I'd probably give it a shot," Avery said.

"I don't know about that," Harwood responded.
Kirwan said he didn't consider the men's actions theft.

"I don't know if they wanted that many oranges. I think that was a tongue-in-cheek prank," he said.

He said he doesn't care to think about students stealing.

"The students here have an honor code. I believe you trust people until they've proven themselves untrustworthy," he said.

He did, however, request that students not leave the dining room with more food than the allowed one piece of fruit, bread or dessert item, saying that extra food is not part of the meal plan.

It is cost of the meal plan that justifies taking extra food in some students' minds.

One male junior, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he once took an entire loaf of bread out of the dining area. He said he thinks students' motivation for this type of action is partly vengeance.

"They have such a stranglehold on the cafeteria business. There's no other competition," he said.

He said his meal only cost $3, and the items he takes out are cheap in quality. If he saw that Saga lost money because of small student thefts, he would stop, he said.

Senior Brandon Carmack, who said he once took Saga spoons for his suite, analyzed theft from Saga in a similar way.

"Saga's not our peers. If you take from Saga, it seems that what you take is going to be replaced. So it seems the consequences are not seen," he said.

Paper and Cartridges
Saga apples aren't the only thing students steal from the school. Mark Maier, public service librarian, said students have taken ink cartridges, cords, headphones and printer paper from the library.

"I can't say it's an epidemic," he said. "I don't see it happen that often."

He said the theft is not necessarily malicious.

"More often than not they're not trying to be destructive," he said. "They're not thinking about it as stealing."

The most egregious theft that librarian Linda Moore remembers was in 1999, when the library purchased its first DVD collection, 30 films in all. Within a week, eight had been stolen.

The library DVDs now have security strips to prevent theft.

Moore said students also horde library books they haven't checked out, stashing them in nooks in the library so they can find them later.

Bicycles
Carmack said that overall, the Hillsdale student body respects property rights, evidenced by the computers and other belongings left everywhere. They don't take from each other.

Bicycles, however, seem to be an exception to this rule.

Sophomore Drew French said his bike was stolen several times last year. He and sophomore Nick Youngstrom hunted it down, finding it at McIntyre Hall and the student union.

"We stole it back three times before he decided to get a lock," Youngstrom said.

French said the theft didn't anger him.

"It was like a game with someone I didn't know," French said.

Youngstrom said bike "borrowing" is common outside of Simpson Hall. Students ask a bystander whose bike it is, then take it, he said.

Junior Ben Shelton admits to this borrowing. He said he takes bikes for short rides, then returns them to the same place.

For example, on Monday he rode a bike at The Suites to the mail room to deliver a letter, then rode it back right away.

"It's like a commune. A commune of Hillsdale bikes," French said, adding that he has not yet decided whether this atmosphere is "super awesome" or "terrible."

Mary "Squeak" Barnett, library circulation director, urged students to be cautious with their belongings, though she praised the confidence students have in each other.

"It's amazing, the trust. But it's never a good thing to leave anything out. Yes, this is Hillsdale, but it doesn't mean you won't be tempting someone else," she said.

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