When psychology professor Sharmin Tunguz entered her office Thursday, she thought books had fallen off her rickety shelves. After a closer look, she realized several were missing.
"It's disturbing to feel that someone was in my office," Tunguz said. "It's annoying. Very annoying."
Tunguz and at least nine others with offices in the psychology suite on the first floor of Harrison Hall reported books missing. Tunguz estimated that the intruder took nine of her books, most of which were new and the latest edition of the text. Her older editions remained behind.
"One of the books, a consumer behavior book — I took a look at the list price on Amazon.com," she said. "It's about $277."
The department secretary, Connie Lambermont, said she noticed a few things in her office had been moved around as well, though nothing seems to be missing.
"You don't expect to walk into your office and have textbooks missing," Lambermont said. "It's creepy-feeling."
Director of Public Safety Angie Nally said this kind of theft hasn't happened at DePauw in her recent memory. Before students shopped online for class materials, Nally said books would be stolen from unattended backpacks and sold to the university bookstore.
"I haven't had textbook thefts for a long time, much less enter faculty offices to take them," Nally said.
The thefts remain under investigation by Public Safety. Following the laptop thefts in Harrison and the Olin Biological Sciences Building that occurred earlier in the winter, Nally said Public Safety has tried to have more of a presence in the buildings. An officer locked and checked the building at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, the night before the missing books were reported.
"There's a glass partition where the receptionist sits … and that locks," Nally said. "That lock was tampered with, and that's a potential entry that someone either broke that lock, moved that lock, entered through the window, or they found a door that is less secure than it should have been."
The losses won't financially impact the professors missing books, as publishing companies sent the copies to the professors to review before choosing them to use in class. The professors have had to contact the companies to get replacements.
"I am grateful they didn't take my laptop. That would have been completely debilitating." Tunguz said, surprised that her computer was still in her office.
Textbooks, which are difficult to conceal and can be very heavy, seemed to be an odd choice over laptops, Nally said.
"I guess it really depends on the thief, what they feel like they can turn around and liquidate very quickly," she said.