Break-in causes thousands in damages

On August 29th, employees at the Wright Cup found that they had received a hungry burglar.  The front cooler at the café had been smashed, leaving glass scattered on the floor and, of course, an empty cooler.   While the culprits are not currently known, it appears that their aim was to steal several sandwiches and some soda.  After bending the lock to the cooler with what appears to be pliers, the burglars smashed the glass with a fire extinguisher, leaving both shattered glass and fire extinguisher foam on the floor.

“They broke an $8,000 cooler for a $1 sandwich,” said Andrew Deckert, the Marketing Manager at Wright State’s Dining Services.

The break-in itself was very peculiar.  Not only did the burglars, who appeared at Wright Cup between 11:00pm on August 28th and 4:00am on August 29th, steal several sandwiches and sodas from the cooler, they also took Wright Cup mugs and an envelope of receipts from the register. “It is really odd,” Deckert said. “We’ve had the Wright Cup open ten years, and we haven’t had anything like this.”  Although this may seem just like a typical prank, it points to a larger problem at Wright State.  Theft has become a growing problem on campus. “Money we make goes back into the system,” stated Deckert. “When people steal things, they’re basically stealing from themselves.  It only hurts the students. It’s just sad.” Over past years, there has been an increasing problem with students stealing from both the campus and from each other.  Deckert stated that he has seen thievery before, but never this soon into the school year.  Although some Wright students have committed petty crimes, such as stealing Taco Bell from the dining services’ hangar, others have stolen other students’ Wright 1 cards. Wright State created the food pantry on campus so that students who were actually struggling to eat could obtain sustenance despite financial problems.  However, most of the crimes such as those at the Wright Cup are committed by students who do not fall in this category.  Last year, several students were either disenrolled or lost scholarships due to thievery problems.  This included issues as small as slipping a sandwich into a pocket and walking away. As stated in the report done by the Wright State campus police, criminal charges will be pressed if the perpetrator is caught.  Is risking an education for the ‘glamor’ of stealing from a student services organization really worth it?