Locker Room Thefts Continue

Almost $4,500 worth of valuables was stolen from the women’s soccer and softball locker rooms last Tuesday—the most recent incident in an unusual string of burglaries that has hit four different Harvard athletic teams in the past month.

The items reported missing to the Harvard University Police Department last week included three iPods, two laptop computers, a wallet, a cell phone, and a gold necklace. Several identification and credit cards, as well as $105 in cash, had also been removed.

Softball player Jessica M. Ferri ’13, who lost an iPod, said only she and one other teammate, who lost a computer, had possessions stolen.

The rest of the missing items were taken from the women’s soccer locker room, which is connected to the softball locker room through a common bathroom.

According to Ferri, locks for individual lockers have always been available upon request, but most of the team felt that the locker room’s code-protected entrance was sufficient protection against theft. Ferri said coaches have now distributed padlocks to all players on the softball team.

All members of the women’s soccer team who were contacted declined to comment.

These burglaries come on the heels of two others that occurred last month. On Sept. 24, over $2,000 worth of possessions, including a laptop and two wallets containing cash, were stolen from the men’s water polo locker room. Six days later, $65 in cash was reported missing from the men’s soccer team locker room at the Dillon Field House.

Egen Atkinson ’10, co-captain of the men’s water polo team, said that the break-ins were “disappointing,” and that they have prompted increased vigilance among coaches and athletes. He added that his teammates now make sure doors are closed securely when exiting the locker room.

Atkinson said that he has “faith” that the athletic department will look into security improvements, possibly including surveillance cameras in hallways or personnel monitoring locker room entrances.

Nathan T. Fry, associate director of athletics, did not say which specific measures will be implemented, but he wrote in an e-mailed statement that “student-athlete safety and security are obviously quite important” and the department is “evaluating enhanced security measures for each of our locker rooms.”

In the meantime, he added, because “Harvard is an open campus in a city environment,” student-athletes “must take the same precautions with their locker room as they do with their dorm room.”

—Staff writer Michelle L. Quach can be reached at mquach@fas.harvard.edu.