Hundreds of dollars of Hurricane Katrina relief fund donations were stolen from New South earlier this week.
Sometime either late Saturday night or Sunday morning, two water jugs containing an estimated $200 worth of coins and dollar bills were taken from the lobby of New South, according to residence hall administrators.
To date, neither security nor the dorm’s housing staff has any leads regarding the identities of the perpetrators.
“If I had a guess, I would guess that it wasn’t a New South resident,” fourth floor Resident Assistant Craig Huntington (CAS ‘06) said.
The jugs were placed in the lobby as part of a dorm-wide game of Penny Wars organized by Huntington and fellow RA Erin Bailey (NHS ‘08). The competition required students to place money into containers representing their respective floors to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
A worker contracted by the Department of Public Safety was on duty at the estimated time of the incident, sometime between 12 a.m. and 8 a.m. DPS was not available for comment.
New South Residence Hall Director Curt Lauderdale removed the two remaining jugs after finding out about the theft Sunday afternoon. Immediately following the discovery, Lauderdale sent an e-mail to all New South residents expressing his disappointment.
Third-floor RAs asked their residents to donate a dollar each to make up for the stolen funds.
“I think it’s ridiculous that money was stolen from a charity, especially in such a wealthy school,” New South resident Katie Cella (NHS ‘09) said.
Other New South occupants are wondering where security was at the time of the theft.
“I still don’t understand how someone can walk away with a whole jug of pennies. It just boggles my mind,” Amanda Trevisan (NHS ‘09) said.
Although New South has security guards on duty around the clock, Huntington noted that a large post blocks direct sight of the table where the jugs sat. “It may have been a factor,” he said.
Additionally, gaining access to the jugs would have required only one GoCard swipe, Huntington pointed out.
Although the money was being raised for the hurricane relief effort, a GU HERE representative said the organization was not informed of the game.
“This is honestly the first I ever heard about it,” GU HERE treasurer Eden Schiffmann (CAS ‘08) said. He confirmed that all other GU HERE funds have been duly accounted for. “There haven’t been any problems with any of the organizations we’ve been involved in,” he said.
