Forget fancy jewelery or a stuffed wallet -- these days lunchboxes are the item most likely to attract potential thieves.
Several students have reported that the lunchboxes they are carrying while pledging an underground society are getting nabbed and the women themselves are being attacked. Complaints have reached ears in the Office of Student Conduct -- and the Penn Police Department.
According to Fraternity and Sorority Affairs officials, women are pledging the Tabard Society, a sorority-like organization not recognized by the University.
Deputy Chief of Investigations for the Penn Police Mike Morrin said that he has received two reports about the lunchboxes that "were similar in nature."
Morrin said that the police decided it was appropriate to refer those cases to the Office of Student Conduct. However, he said that if the attacks continue they will be treated as criminal incidents.
Stacy Kraus, who advises several of Penn's official sororities, said that upon hearing of these incidents she sent out an e-mail to sorority presidents instructing their members not to get involved.
In the e-mail message, Kraus wrote that according to Penn Police, students have assaulted young women in order to steal their lunchboxes.
She wrote, "while I do not agree with the fact that these young women are asked to carry lunch boxes by the group they are joining, I would ask you to instruct your members to not attempt to steal them."
Director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Scott Reikofski said that his office has also told University-recognized Greek organizations not to get involved.
Reikofski said that, to his knowledge, no Greek men have participated in the attacks.
But one lunchbox carrier, a College freshman, said that male Penn students have committed all of the attacks that she is aware of. She said that she believes some of the men may be from fraternities, though it is difficult to identify them.
She added that some of the attacks have been violent.
Another College freshman with a lunchbox said those stealing the boxes "think it's a game."
"It's not meant to be a game," she added. She declined to comment on why she was carrying the lunchbox or what was inside.
Wharton junior Catie Vuksich -- president of the Panhellenic Council, which oversees eight Penn sororities -- said that the Tabard Society is not recognized by either Panhel or the University.
Reikofski said that any men involved -- regardless of what group they are associated with -- should be investigated and punished accordingly.
"Personal attacks of any kind should not be tolerated," Reikofski wrote in an e-mail. "The safety of our students is paramount to the University."
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