Student residents in The Village apartments received an email from Assistant Director of Residence Life Billie Jo Wood on Jan. 24 regarding a TV theft that occurred in the Fenwick Hall lounge in December.
“We found that one of the televisions provided in the Fenwick lounge had been stolen,” Wood said. “While we have filed a police report and are working with the police on an investigation, we are asking for your assistance in identifying the suspect.”
The email continued, stating that if the suspect is not identified, then the residents of The Village will have to pay for the replacement of the television.
Senior family science and human development major Alondra Martinez does not want to pay for the TV on top of residence costs.
“It bothers me because we already pay so much money for a room here at Montclair [State],” Martinez said. “Even though it can be a few cents to a dollar, why do I have to pay for it when the responsible person is out there?”
The annual security report provided by Montclair State said that there have been 27 burglaries in total on campus in the past three years — not including 2018 statistics.
Senior English major Alayna Higgs said she never experienced something like this happening before.
Fenwick Hall is the building in The Village where the TV theft took place.
Emely Alba | The Montclarion
“I have never heard of anything like that happening here [and] before this, I have lived in Sinatra [Hall], Dinallo [Hall] and Russ [Hall],” Higgs said.
Capt. Kieran Barrett of the University Police Department (UPD) said theft is just one of several types of crime found on campus.
“Over the years, we have seen many different crimes and theft is among them,” Barrett said. “When you live in a fairly open community, the chances of being affected by crime increase.”
Barrett further mentioned that any person with information is urged to contact UPD in order to not just solve the crime but to help relieve residents’ concerns about damage fees or general building safety.
If the person who stole the TV is not identified, then residents would be required to pay for a new one.
Emely Alba | The Montclarion
Residents of The Village are not surprised the suspect has not been identified. Senior math major Danny Delgado is one of them. He believes this may have been a ploy from the school itself to get a new TV for the lounge.
“I feel like [the school] wants us to pay for it,” Delgado said. “It’s just a TV [the residence hall] will get it out of everyone else.”
