Computer Stolen From Holyoke

A Harvard visiting scholar's laptop computer, bubble jet printer and computer case were reported stolen from her office in Holyoke Center sometime between Wednesday night and yesterday morning, Police Chief Paul E. Johnson said yesterday.

An unknown individual or individuals entered the office and removed the items, valued at approximately $1500, Johnson said. There were no signs of forced entry, although the office had been secured, nor were there reports of suspicious people seen in the area, Johnson said.

The computer's hard drive contained notes for an ongoing research project and the finished manuscript of a work on women labor activists, said Dr. Ann Schofield, owner of the computer. Schofield, a visiting scholar from the University of Kansas, is conducting research for the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies.

Most of the information on the computer's hard drive is replaceable, Schofield said. "I had anything that was very important backed up on disks separate from the computer," she said.

"More than anything, it's very upsetting," Schofield said. "It's exceedingly inconvenient."

Schofield has been doing her research at an office of the Harvard Trade Union Program, located in the Holyoke Center. Margy Rydzynski, one of the employees of the program, said three people used the office.

By 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, all three had left the office. A security guard told Rydzynski that no one signed in and entered the office after that time, she said.

Rydzynski said she suspects it was an inside job. "It's hard to imagine someone would just wander in here," she said. "Obviously, it had to be someone who knew where things were."

Rydzynski said all occupants of the office lock the door all the time. "It was not negligence," she said.

A security guard at the Holyoke Center said that Pinkerton Security Services, the security company in charge of the center, was investigating the theft.

Tom Batts, the project manager for Holyoke Center, said the only other people who have keys to the office were those involved in building operations.

Johnson said the Harvard University Police Department is currently investigating the alleged theft.

"If there's a moral for this story," Schofield said, "[it would be that people] should back-up [their programs] very, very often and they should keep disks other than with the computer."