By: Katie Winters
Thousands of dollars worth of equipment necessary to the education of Montclair State students was stolen this summer.
Before classes even began, Calcia Hall suffered a large number of thefts including equipment from the photography, sculpture, ceramics and jewelry making studios as well as over $35,000 of equipment from the film department. All of these thefts are still under investigation.
“There are a number of leads,” said Lieutenant Barrett regarding these thefts, which are under “full investigation.”
The incidents in Calcia Hall are being treated as isolated because they were reported separately. However Lt. Barrett explained that this does not mean the crimes are not considered alongside each other.
All of the incidents are being analyzed separately and together to find any patterns that may exist.
The bigger question that these thefts raise is the caliber of security on campus. Besides Calcia Hall, offices in Morehead Hall were burglarized this summer and construction materials were stolen.
To complicate the possible problem of security, most academic buildings are left open 24/7, with no cameras and nothing but locks on the door to deter possible thieves.
While some buildings have alarm systems, automatically locking doors or cameras, Calcia is left unlocked.
“I pay just as much as people in other departments and honestly I expect the same measure of security here as in University Hall,” said Stephen DeMaria, manager of The Cage.
The Cage was where the majority of the film equipment that was stolen is stored. The room is protected by a single locked door, with no alarm system. DeMaria views this as “very unfair.” However other students see this as simply a matter of irresponsible or disrespectful thieves.
“In the sculpture room, people have always come in and ripped things up,” said Sara Sciabbarrasi, senior art major.
Vandalism has always been a problem, making Calcia not the ideal place to leave things unprotected, but theft wasn’t considered an issue before. However Sciabbarrasi went on to say that locking Calcia is not a good idea for all art students.
“Art students need to be in [Calcia] at 4 in the morning. It shouldn’t be locked and I don’t think there should be security guards or anything. I really just think that it’s just an unfortunate situation.”
“Creativity doesn’t stop at 11 p.m.,” said Lieutenant Barrett, agreeing that Calcia should not be locked after a certain time. “The university as a whole is in favor of students being able to work at all times [… But] there are always better ways,” added Lt. Barrett.
While the departments which were stolen from do have the budget to replace the stolen equipment, and for the most part are currently in the process of replacing all that was taken, this blow has kept these groups from expanding.
Rather than being able to offer new equipment or material to the students, these professors and administrators have had to spend their budget on replacing things that did not need to be replaced.
However, though some students want to place blame on the administration, the amount of security in any area is determined by the department in charge of the space.
Lt. Barrett explained that the university has standards in place for the different buildings, but in the end each department is responsible for their own security systems and material.
The police do patrol regularly to attempt to deter thieves, patrolling with no regular pattern that thieves could learn and monopolize on. The police have increased their patrolling in the area of Calcia in response to the thefts.
Buildings may not always be open 24/7 though. The John J. Cali School of Music was completed last fall semester, and came complete with doors that lock automatically. When Dr. Gina Balestracci, administrator of the John J. Cali School of Music, was asked about the added security she said that this may become standard.
“Cali locks automatically because we now have the technology that makes that possible. The university is, I believe heading toward this model with all new construction and renovations,” said Balestracci.
Balestracci went on to imply that the older buildings were harder to secure and therefore simply left open.
Dr. Karen Pennington, vice president of student life and campus development, confirmed Balestracci’s statement. Pennington said that as buildings are updated, more technology will be added to increase security in the buildings on campus.
However she added that they do not intend to keep students out of buildings they need to work in.
“Students will be given access based on their need,” said Pennington.
However, the number of thefts that occur at Montclair State University are typical for a college campus. While it was unusual for Calcia to have so many thefts in a short amount of time, it is not uncommon for the campus as a whole.
And in addition to the thefts in Calcia, there were several other burglaries over the summer that amount to several thousand dollars of damage.
There is not much the university can do to prevent these thefts without drastically changing the climate of learning.
“We’re a community and we need to report crimes,” said Lt. Barrett.
“We can be a community with trust, or we can lock everything down like a prison,” said Pennington about the choice to leave the buildings open 24/7. “We have chosen trust.”
