$5K in new bookstore textbooks nabbed

Security system installed; shelves reorganized to avoid future thefts

By: Liz Essley

Posted: 4/23/09

Thieves stole about $5,000 worth of textbooks from the college bookstore over the weekend of April 3.

The college has not yet found who committed the theft, but will prosecute if it does, said Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé.

When bookstore employees arrived at work on Monday, April 6, they noticed that something was wrong. The shelves looked emptier than usual.

"It was pretty obvious. They were brand new, heavy-dollar textbooks," Bookstore Manager Cindy Willing said. "They weren't your two-dollar Dovers."

This is the first incident of its kind at Hillsdale College, Willing said. She said theft happens regularly at some schools and has gone up across the board in the tough economic climate.

Péwé said it remains unclear whether the theft occurred gradually during the day, or whether the thieves jimmied the lock at night, after the building closed at 3 a.m. and before maintenance workers arrived. They stole nothing but textbooks - several copies each of 11 different titles, in subjects ranging from Spanish to economics to psychology.

Both Péwé and Willing suspect the thieves came from outside the college community.

"They'd watched and they'd paid attention," Péwé said. "I'm pretty sure that it was not an inside job."

Maintenance and security workers have been ruled out after interviewing, Péwé said. Security does not even have a key to the bookstore.

Willing called the woman who cleans the bookstore very "vigilant" and said that the bookstore has never experienced a problem with the custodial staff.

Willing said she cannot imagine students bothering to steal from the bookstore, when they respect each others' laptops and other belongings left around campus.

"I think our students for the most part would not consider doing that," she said. But she added: "It could be anybody."

Other college bookstores have warned her about organized groups who travel to different colleges to "hit" the bookstores and resell the books later, she said.

College security is in charge of the investigation. They plan to watch ISBN numbers online to see if the thieves attempt to resell the books next semester, Péwé said.

Security Director Mike Wertz was unavailable for comment.

The college changed the bookstore locks and added an ADT security system to ensure the incident does not recur, Péwé said. The bookstore also rearranged its shelves so that workers can see shoppers more easily, in light of the chance that the theft occurred during the day.