No progress has been made in the search for two paintings stolen from the lobby of Olin Memorial Library in October 2007. Efforts by Olin staff and Public Safety have not resulted in either potential suspects or clues regarding the current whereabouts of the paintings.
“There’s really nothing to follow up on at this point,” said Director of Public Safety David Meyer.
The portraits, which feature family members of former University President Stephen Olin, have not been the only recent targets of theft.
“There were some brass ornaments taken from the balcony but they were returned,” said University Librarian Barbara Jones. “We found out through an anonymous source that some students had taken some ornaments from the library and we were able to get them back… We hope that’s the case [with the paintings], but we don’t know.”
Because nobody witnessed the crime, the identity of the thief (or thieves) and the methods used remain unknown. Currently, Olin has no security cameras or security guards. In light of recent events, though, cameras are being considered.
“It’s one of the suggestions, because we can’t afford security guards,” Jones said. “I’m resisting [cameras] if at all possible because I don’t like the idea of security cameras in a library because they invade people’s privacy.”
Sandhya Daemgen ’08, who works at the Olin front desk, believes such measures would not prevent future thefts from occurring.
“I don’t think it would really change anything,” Daemgen said. “For instance, Weshop installed security cameras and people know about them. Now people are just stealthy when they steal.”
Since the thefts, librarians have felt a much greater need to be vigilant.
“We’re definitely on higher alert than we used to be,” Jones said, “Not only because of incidents at Wesleyan but also because of reports by colleagues of similar thefts.”
Aside from having lost an important piece of culture, Jones expresses concern at the impact of the thefts on the campus community.
“The library has always been an open, inviting place,” she said. “We try to be as open as possible, and when things like this happen it tends to make a place less open and it creates distrust in the community.”
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