All Posts Tagged With: "theft"
What students are talking about today (November 13th edition)
A physics video, a lawsuit over a B+ and an unfunny Joker
MinutePhysics on YouTube
1. A new video funded partly by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo is calling on Barack Obama to improve physics education. The video is spreading surprisingly quickly, approaching 320,000 views already. “High school physics students across most of America aren’t required to learn any physics discovered since 1865,” says the narrator, who then lists off some of the discoveries since then, including photons, the existence of antimatter, MRIs, the big bang… you know, little things.
2. A 41-year-old student at Concordia University is doing what so many students feel powerless to do—challenging a grade he sees as unjust. William Groombridge is suing over a B-plus he got in his energy policy course that he says should have been an A-minus. He wants a refund of the course, alleging that the school school arbitrarily downgraded his final mark to meet an unofficial grade quota or bell curve. More in the Spectator.
3. Police in Boulder, Colo. arrested a 17-year-old who showed up at a cinema wearing a Batman Joker mask. He scared patrons who were reminded of James Holmes, the man who killed 12 people and injured 58 others at a Colorado premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. More in the Daily Camera.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 13th edition)
More than 100 thefts near U. of Western Ontario
Police warn students
Dennis Rivest by MyFanshawe on YouTube
Students in London, Ont. are being warned by police to secure their doors, windows, and patio doors due to an increased number of break-and-enters near student housing. Western News reports that more than 100 have occurred near the University of Western Ontario in recent months.
London Police officer Dennis Rivest held a press conference at Fanshawe College recently to offer more information. He called the thefts “crimes of opportunity” and believes that thieves may be walking from residence to residence, looking for easy ways to break in and steal electronics. He says students should not only secure their residences better, but should record serial numbers for computers, cameras, TVs and tablets.
The bicycle thieves are arrested
Baiting programs are cutting down on theft
Photo courtesy of Simply Bike on Flickr
Students wallets, laptops and bikes are common targets of professional thieves.
So it’s encouraging to read that four bicycle thieves have been caught and charged at the University of Saskatchewan. None of those charged were against students and, in this case, the culprits were youths.
Even better news: The Sheaf reports that the number of bikes reported stolen on campus has fallen from roughly 75 to 100 per year a decade ago to around 15 per year. That’s because Campus Safety officers have fought back against with “bait bikes” that lure theives.
RCMP at the University of British Columbia, which has a persistent problem with thefts from lockers, has introduced a “bait locker” program.
We can only hope other schools follow suit.
First Nations University student body president stole $30,000
“Accomplishments” kept him out of jail: judge
A former student council president at the First Nations University of Canada in Saskatoon has been convicted of fraud and theft of $30,000.
Blue Pelletier, 31, repeatedly wrote himself cheques from the student union’s bank accounts in 2006 and 2007 and never accounted for the money. Three other members of the council testified that Pelletier had told them he had used the money to buy a car and furniture for himself.
But he won’t go to jail. Instead, he’ll serve an 18-month conditional sentence that includes a curfew and he’ll be required to pay $20,000 back to the student’s council, reports CBC News.
Judge Gerry Allbright said that although Blue Pelletier is guilty, he had accomplished so much in his life that it proved the fraud was “no doubt, in my mind, an aberration.” Had it been more than an aberration, he would have gone to jail, said the judge.
That’s despite the fact that Pelletier accused the other council members of lying and blamed the lack of records for the cheques on a “lackadaisical” style of accounting. He had pleaded not guilty.
Mystery of the disappearing artwork
Why would someone steal a student’s prints?
A Unversity of Saskatchewan student says that 72 pieces of his art disappeared from the campus printmaking shop. Kevin Bishop, 23, doesn’t know who would have wanted the work that he’s spent six months producing for his Master of Fine Art thesis. The most money his work has sold for is $750, making the stolen collection worth $54,000 “in an ideal world,” he told the StarPhoenix newspaper. ”It was a year of my life,” he said. “I just want it back.”
The danger of laptop theft
More than just a financial loss
With so many students crammed into the library studying for final exams, I’ve been hearing lots of stories lately about students getting their laptops stolen.
On the University of Waterloo’s website, there’s a page about laptop security that advises students to “assume the worst” if their laptop has been stolen. “Your password has been compromised, your files have been compromised. Change passwords everywhere, watch your bank accounts carefully.”
I’m sure it’s not any worse at Waterloo than it is at any other school, but it’s horrifying to even imagine my laptop suddenly disappearing.
Never mind the whole financial side of things. Even if I could push a button and get a new laptop for free, at any given time during the semester, my laptop contains a lab report in progress, maybe a draft of an essay, a chemistry assignment, and lecture notes for an upcoming test. Not to mention all the non-school related stuff.
I’ve heard enough horror stories about hard drives crashing that I do keep a backup of most of my files. But if I’m working on a biochemistry assignment that’s due in three days, I rarely bother to save a backup. And I’m sure there isn’t a backup of every picture, video or document on my laptop, either.
And according to these stories I’ve been hearing, the thieves are other students.
-Photo courtesy of Pink Sherbet Photography
Lock up your laptop
Laptop stolen at Carleton by man wielding a knife
A Carleton University student witnessed a man wielding a knife steal a laptop Monday morning. The unattended laptop belonged to a friend of the student’s who happened across a man who was taking a look at the computer before pulling out a knife and stealing it. Police told the Ottawa Citizen that incidents like this are common early in the year, as incoming students are still adjusting to university life and may still be used to high school where they may be familiar with most students. “New students have got to be careful, always keep it under lock and key or under surveillance,” Staff Sgt. Denis Cleroux said.
Ex-school trustee gets probation in ketchup theft
Man says authorities, trying to frame him, planted bottle near his bicycle
A former school board trustee from southern California has been sentenced to two years of informal probation for stealing a bottle of ketchup from a college dining area.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Jacki Brown also ordered Steve Rocco to pay about $200 in fines and stay 100 metres away from the college.
Rocco was convicted by a jury last month of misdemeanour petty theft for stealing a bottle of ketchup from a Chapman University dining area.
The eccentric former Orange Unified School District trustee known for espousing conspiracy theories claims authorities planted the ketchup near his bicycle to make it look like a theft when he was recycling the bottle.
He says he will appeal.
- The Canadian Press
