Nine recent thefts at Philips Gym leave frequenters wary

Administrators call for increased security and student awareness

First it was a basketball. And then a wallet disappeared. And then another wallet. And then another.

There have been nine thefts at Philips Gym in the past two weeks, including a rash of thefts during the conference swim championships held in Carr Pool Feb. 12 - Feb. 14. One wallet containing $4,000 was stolen.

"The timing of that was bad," said Recreation Center Director Jeff White. "A lot of students who are normally working for us were doing other things."

Although some of the stolen items have been recovered, Assistant to the President Diana Roose said the College remains very concerned about the situation.

"We've been trying to work with the gym," Roose said. "Clearly, we haven't licked it yet. It's an overall problem with building management."

Not everyone is so sure. One student, who found his wallet missing from his locker, said there wasn't much the gym could do.

"If people are going to be stupid and leave their lockers open, there's nothing the gym can do," the student said.

"All of our problems are in the male lockerroom," White said. "A lot of times people just don't lock their lockers. I've hired rovers to walk through that area. We do the best we can."

Philips has dozens of doors, making it notoriously difficult to patrol. The gym was designed to accomodate an open door policy. The open door policy, which was embraced in the early seventies, gradually fell out of favor. Director of Safety and Security Keith James said security officers could not be held solely responsible for monitoring the gym.

"The issue is very internal in terms of monitoring access," James said. "They need to be able to do it on their own. I suggested we train staff from a security perspective. I have tried to work with Jeff White, but I haven't heard back from him."

"I'd be very cooperative with security," White said. "We try not to call Security because we do things internally, and they have more important things to do. If someone falls ill, that's more important than someone losing their keys."

White said he thought management wasn't the main problem. "I don't think that's the real problem.," White said. "The real problem is I know students are every bit as capable of stealing something, but a lot of problems we have are town kids who have nowehere to go. They know the routine. They know how to circumvent our policies."

Roose said the only solution currently available is for gym patrons to guard their belongings more carefully.

"I know I'm much more careful when I go to the gym," Roose said. "We haven't until now brought our full forces of reason and concentration together to solve problems."

James said, "I don't think any security would be air-tight."

"We're doing the best we can to manage a very awkward situation," White said.