No, not a real picture of the culprit

In the time since everyone left for the summer, there have been a spate of burglaries around campus. Most notably, someone stole a number of flatscreen TVs from Woods Studio, and two large Bose subwoofers in the Chapel disappeared on the same day, their security chains severed.

But this week, I learned of a new set of thefts – this time from the Student Association.

The first is from Soundcrew, the organization that runs audio for events organized by student clubs, which apparently left some quantity of gear in an unlocked closet in Manor at the end of the semester. The semi-valuable equipment waited around for about two weeks, before wandering off in the hands of some opportunistic thief. Missing gear includes two mixing boards, leaving Soundcrew with only one tiny mixer and a dead, large one. Also lost were five microphones, two speakers, and the various bits and pieces used to hook it all up. This leaves Soundcrew crippled, without enough equipment to run many of the events that clubs will want to throw.

I’m currently working with AV to inventory Soundcrew’s remaining gear, an unfortunately large chunk of which is broken. I’m also looking into ways to acquire the bare essentials now to get Soundcrew through the first several weeks of the semester.

On a side note, Soundcrew needs a head – preferably a responsible and organized person to ensure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Got audio experience? Let me know!

Soundcrew’s loss was not the only blow to fall this summer. I learned last Wednesday that SMOG had also been broken into. Someone broke the two rear windows, pushed in the grates, and proceeded to make off with SMOG’s mixing board, potentially along with other gear that had not been properly inventoried. There is now a severe shortage of mixers on campus. On the upside, a complete and working, albeit vintage, system was recently given to the college. Perhaps this gear will find a home at SMOG.

As for the people responsible, campus gossip pins a group of Aramark employees. However, our chances of recovering the gear look slim.