Thefts plague frats

When the fraternity's away, the burglars will play. That seemed to be the case over winter break, as at least 11 burglaries were reported to University Police between December 14 and January 13, while still others went unreported. Michael Jacobs, president of Tau Epsilon Phi, said that his fraternity house was burglarized five or six times over the break. "We have grated windows going into our basement," the College junior said. "[The thieves] ripped those out and they were going into our basement that way." There were at least three bicycles, several jackets and several food items stolen, according to Jacobs. "I'm really disappointed," Jacobs said. "I would think that it's up to the University to make sure that [area houses] are safe. We haven't come up with anything that we can do." TEP was robbed again last weekend. Greg Bussey, a Delta Kappa Epsilon brother, returned to his fraternity house at about 10:30 p.m. on Christmas night to find that the house had been vandalized. "Doors had been kicked in and a lot of the rooms had been ransacked," the College junior said. "There was a bag full of stereo equipment, Walkmen and Penn sweatshirts [in one of the rooms]." Bussey said the intruder came through the kitchen door in the back of the house by breaking through an iron gate and a wooden door. He said he thinks the robber probably got scared and fled without the bag full of valuables, but $1,200 in cash was stolen from one of the brother's rooms. Ironically, Delta Kappa Epsilon was also robbed on Christmas Day 1991. Acacia's house was reportedly broken into twice over break. According to Matt Bixler, alumni vice president of on-campus activities, two mountain bikes valued at around $450 each were stolen during the first incident, and a television and stereo were taken during the second incident. "The emergency fire exit door on the side of the building had been temporarily altered by someone so that it wouldn't lock," Bixler said, adding he thinks the incidents were related. Other houses that were reportedly vandalized or burglarized included Sigma Alpha Mu, Phi Delta Theta and Zeta Beta Tau. "There is no occupancy, nobody around [over break]," University Police Sergeant Ivan Kimble said. "We're aware of fraternity break-ins and we go along looking for that." Kimble added that while there are normal levels of police presence during winter break, the officers tend to concentrate their efforts on the "inner campus," and do not normally patrol around off-campus houses. J.R. Scherr, president of SAM, said that it is important to determine whether "the campus police are going to make a commitment to the entire student body." "It would be unrealistic to ask that an officer be placed outside of every house," the Engineering junior said. "[But] if the campus police are going to make a commitment to . . . on-campus only, they should seek the help of the Philadelphia Police [for off-campus houses]." Most fraternity members seemed to be pleased with University Police's response, even though there were so many incidents. "Campus security came within a reasonable amount of time. We didn't have any problems with them," Bixler said. "They also had helpful suggestions about the [broken] windows until Physical Plant was able to put them back up."