A three hundred dollar public address (PA) system belonging to Student Productions was stolen directly from their office on Aug. 23.
Although the incident was captured by campus cameras and reviewed by concerned school officials, the image was deemed “too indistinct” to accurately identify the culprit.
Coordinator of Student Event Services Jennifer Powell revealed that Student Productions had moved the PA from its previous location in the office a few days earlier in an attempt to consolidate storage space.
Powell claims that this new location would have been easily viewable to intruders.
She was engaged in a day-trip to USF with Student Productions on the day in question.
“It was just so random,” said Powell, “and all the more disconcerting because we always take care to lock the office door.”
Video footage of the incident captured what seemed to be a man wearing the name badge of a student involved in freshman orientation wheeling the PA system off on a push cart.
Despite these clues, no one has yet been able to find a match for the suspect.
Powell said that the investigation has been a collaborative effort among a number of campus officials and that numerous avenues of inquiry are currently being explored.
Apart from beginning the process of filing an official theft report, Powell and others began by combing campus for the missing equipment and even monitoring Craigslist for ads pertaining to the theft.
A few promising leads have emerged, but so far none have panned out.
Although three hundred dollars is a relatively replaceable sum, Student Productions is now faced with the inconvenience of having to coordinate equipment use with other organizations like Media Services rather than being self-sufficient.
The purchase of a new PA unit could entail convoluted reshuffling of the capital purchases fund, another setback for all involved.
“It’s mostly a pity because SP was so excited to finally purchase their own system.” said Powell. “Now that it’s gone we’re all really bummed.”
Powell expressed optimism that between the ongoing investigation and general campus awareness a resolution to the unfortunate incident might soon be reached.
Jeffrey Palmer can be reached at jeffrey.palmer@spartans.ut.edu.