NU faculty member receives suspicious letters

A Northwestern faculty member received two suspicious letters in the mail last week, prompting police to take action Monday.

Police responded to Cook Hall, 2220 Campus Drive, on Monday morning to investigate suspicious letters the NU faculty member received last week, University Police Deputy Chief Dan McAleer said.

The faculty member received a letter Jan. 19 that “did not make sense to her,” so she threw it away, McAleer said. Two days later, she received another letter with the same handwriting, which concerned her.

Officers took the second letter back to the UP office, where they opened it. The envelope contained five pages of correspondence. In the letter, the author asked the faculty member for recommendations for books and magazines about a research project he was doing, McAleer said.

The writer included his name, address and telephone number, as well as a stamped return envelope. Police informed the faculty member of what they found, and she told police she did not work in the field for which the sender was asking information.

Police contacted the sender and informed him of the situation. They advised him to stop sending the letters, and he agreed to do so, McAleer said.

Student’s bike stolen outside Ford Center

An NU student reported his bike missing Monday afternoon, police said.

The student had locked his bike outside Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center, 2133 Sheridan Road, on Sunday morning. When he returned the next day, he found someone had cut the lock and taken his bike, McAleer said.

The student gave the lock to the police, and they noticed it was cut in the same manner as a previous bike theft report, McAleer said.

Police are investigating.

– Kris Anne Bonifacio