By Laura Dacyte
On 16 September, at around 1:00 in the morning, a burglar broke into two double rooms on the ground floor of the dorms. One of the residents, first-year student Thais Michon, caught the perpetrator red-handed in her bedroom as she returned home from a night out. She started to yell at the person, grabbing a kitchen knife, fuelled by a combination of fear and anger. Seeing this, the man proceeded to hastily run through her room, the kitchen and the other bedroom to get out the window, breaking the curtains in the process. During this time, her roommate was asleep in the other bedroom, unsuspecting of what had happened. Earlier in the night, her roommate had “heard someone come in through the front door, [but] it wasn’t me”, Michon said.
After the thief had fled, the two women called the police who arrived after 15 minutes to search the place and take their statements. Upon request, the police stated that they could not comment on the ongoing investigation, but that no arrests had been made so far. After the police left, Thais and her roommate started looking around to see which of their things had gone missing. They noticed that her roommate’s purse was missing, which had a variety of important documents and cash, as well as Thais’ laptop and several pieces of jewellery. While “the jewellery had no financial value, it had a lot of sentimental value”, Michon explained.
On the same night, another theft occurred in the dorm next door where Louis Vatcher and his roommate reside. At the time, the two of them were away on the AUSCA weekend trip and only learned about it upon arriving home. Louis noticed that his computer was missing and said that the whole apartment was a wreck with clothes and personal items on the floor, making it seem as if the thief was going through every drawer and wardrobe in search of valuables. Louis believes that the thief entered through the window, admitting that they forgot to lock it.
Trying to handle their predicament, both Michon and Vatcher reached out to DUWO, the landlord of the AUC dorms, to let them know what occurred and seek help. However, “DUWO did not come through, they didn’t answer all weekend”, Michon said. Vatcher similarly lamented that DUWO hasn’t been helpful, as they did not pick up his calls. Louis says that he “would like DUWO to take responsibility and ensure that the security in the courtyard area is better maintained” so that incidents like this do not occur again.
In response to these accusations, DUWO explained that they “were able to replace the cylinder lock immediately the next working day” in Michon’s room, and claimed that they received the report on the second incident only last week. They are now trying to make an appointment with the students in order to see how they can help. The break-ins occurred one and a half months ago.
Another source of discontent revolves around the overall security in the dorms: “I’m a little disappointed that there’s so little security with the courtyard, which is supposed to be for students”, says Vatcher. Sleeping in his room, he now feels unsafe because someone was able to break into his personal space. Louis emphasizes the need for DUWO to “take responsibility and ensure that the security in the courtyard area is better maintained” so that incidents like this do not occur again. Particularly gaps in the glass gates offer easy access to the courtyards for anyone.
Regarding potential compensation for the stolen goods, DUWO says “the residents are responsible in these cases and they should purchase their own contents insurance”. They claim that they try to prevent incidents like these by hanging warning posters at the beginning of each academic year and having AUC alert new students to these risks during introduction days. According to the police, these posters about break-ins and theft “will be translated to English and put in the apartment buildings”. So far, these have only been available in Dutch.
While Vatcher and Michon feel that they have not received proper help from DUWO in recovering from the robbery, they say that the AUC community has definitely helped them out a great amount. Michon emphasizes that the professors have been very understanding of the situation and the Student Life Officers have given tips about how to deal with it. Vatcher adds that his neighbour has lent him an iPad to help him complete his school work more easily and that students have been caring and considerate towards him by asking if he’s alright and offering their help in any way.
The Herring 