Three burglaries were reported Sunday evening at West Fairchild, where the BioEXCEL/ChemEXCEL summer program participants are being housed.

Among the items taken from West Fairchild — the International Studies Residential College during the school year — were a wallet, a MacBook Pro computer and a set of Bose computer speakers, said University Police Cmdr. Shaun Johnson.

The computer and speakers were left unattended in a third floor common area lounge, Johnson said. The wallet, which belonged to a program employee, had been left hanging on that employee’s door by another counselor who had found it in a common area.

The items were taken between 3:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. There was no sign of forced entry, Johnson said.

The wallet contained $12 in cash as well as credit cards and identification, Johnson said. The credit cards were fraudulently used in downtown Chicago, he said.

Johnson said UP’s assumption is that the thefts are related given their proximity and similar time frames. He added that UP will follow up the fraudulent credit card purchases and watch local pawnshops for the MacBook Pro as well as tracking whether the computer is activated on Northwestern’s Wi-Fi network.

Undergraduate student alleges other student sent harassing messages

A Northwestern undergraduate student told UP July 9 that another student had been sending them “degrading, rude comments” via text and social media messages since February, Johnson said.

The student who allegedly sent the messages is currently out of state but will come in to talk to UP when he or she returns later this month, he said. Johnson said the student has been “cooperative.”

UP informed the appropriate university offices, including Student Affairs, of the situation.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MadelineFox14