The Department of Public Safety is investigating an act of vandalism and theft in the Weiss Center for the Arts that occurred late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

The Weiss Center houses the college’s departments of Music and Art & Art History, as well as the Rubendall Recital Hall and Trout Gallery. According to Dee Danser, vice president of Public Safety, a college employee discovered the vandalism on the second floor of the building in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 20 and notified DPS. Danser said that the subjects involved in the crime stole one painting from the second floor and removed others from the walls. The perpetrators also damaged furniture by discharging a chemical fire extinguisher.

“[The subjects in the act] removed a fire extinguisher from the wall and sprayed it all over the furniture and floor in the common area,” Danser said. “The dry chemical agent from the extinguisher extended into the three hallways connecting to the common area on the second floor.”

Danser said that the monetary damages related to this act include clean up, recharging of the fire extinguisher and the theft of the artwork. Facilities personnel performed the clean up on Sunday, who responded to the crime at the request of DPS. Since the investigation is ongoing, Danser could not disclose whether or not DPS has identified any suspects.

Faculty members who work in Weiss expressed their disappointment at the seemingly random act of vandalism, and commended the facilities management crew for their prompt response and clean up.

“I’m very disappointed to see that kind of behavior happening on this campus,” said Elisabeth Stimpert, contributing faculty in Music. “However, I commend the campus facilities crew for seeing to the damage so quickly and thoroughly – I first heard of the incident Sunday evening, when I encountered someone already cleaning things up despite the holiday weekend. I certainly hope that the parties responsible will be held accountable for all the time and effort that has gone into restoring the space.”

Corrections

In the Wednesday, April 9, 2014 issue of The Dickinsonian, the Faculty Meeting Minutes on page 3 had some inconsistencies.

In the fifth bulletin, beginning with “Prof. Wendy Moffat…” the Working Group’s work was incorrectly attributed to the investigator’s work.

We at the Dickinsonian apologize for these errors.

Sincerely,
The Dickinsonian