At an institution that prides itself on safety and trust, students often become careless with guarding their computers, most of the time suffering no adverse consequences. Abandoning a laptop during a Food Court foray, for example, is a thoughtless and commonplace action.
But for Sarah Morton '05, a trip to a lobster dinner left enough time for a thief to make off with her laptop -- and her entire senior fellowship project, due the next day.
Morton is a senior fellow, a prestigious distinction bestowed upon 10 seniors who conduct scholarly research in a specific
area. Her project is titled "The Edges of Assimilation: Same-Sex Marriage and Black-White Integration." Her paper was 110 pages long, and Morton had spent countless hours writing and researching the subject, even traveling to California to conduct research.
Thursday evening, Morton was putting the finishing touches on her project when she and her friend, Rebecca Heller '05, left their Baker Library office and headed the Class of 2005 Lobster Bake. In Heller's estimation, the two were absent for a couple of hours. They left the door unlocked.
In good spirits from the lobster dinner, the pair entered the office. Morton's computer and power cord had disappeared.
"Nothing else had been touched," Morton explained. "At first I thought it was a joke. When I realized it wasn't, I was at a loss. I didn't know if I should be more upset about the computer, which I had taken a loan out to buy in October, or the fellowship, which was due the next day."
"Needless to say, she was pretty unhappy about the whole thing," Heller said.
But the fellowship's due date left little time for wallowing in loss.
In an e-mail message sent to the entire campus, Heller pleaded for the return of Morton's computer.
"Please think hard and don't randomly destroy the culminating work of someone's entire college experience," she wrote to the perpetrator, whose actions she also called "lame."
In the message, Heller presented several options for the burglar, including dead-drops at several locations. She even allowed the thief to preserve anonymity and retain his booty.
"Even if you are too lame to give [the computer] back, it would be mildly decent of you to make an anonymous online e-mail account and blitz her her senior fellowship," she wrote.
Heller said she received an outpouring of electronically-transmitted support from undergraduate well-wishers.
"There were lots of supportive messages. It was the volume that impressed me more than anything else. People who had never met either of us sent their best wishes and suggestions for computer recovery," she said.
But still no computer and still no project.
Fortunately, at the counsel of a friend, Morton had intermittently e-mailed herself copies of the document. The copies she had sent herself, however, were slightly outdated and incomplete. And while she was able to recover most of her chapters and her bibliography, she lost her acknowledgements altogether.
In her hour of need, Morton turned to her friends, who helped piece the chef-d'oeuvre together.
"I stayed up all night with my two friends who were with me and two of the other senior fellows, and worked on re-revising what I had," Morton said. "[Safety and Security] and the custodial staff in Baker made an exception and let us stay in my office after midnight so that I wouldn't have to move all my books and materials somewhere else."
As the Friday-morning sun cast its golden glow on the Green, Morton finished salvaging her paper, reconstructing 97 pages of a document originally 110 pages long. She turned the fellowship in that Friday.
Morton's computer has not been returned. She implored students to back up their documents frequently, and said she has not become discouraged with human nature.
"The Senior Fellow Office has been really understanding. They even offered me an extension, which, thankfully, I didn't really have to take. [Safety and Security] and the Hanover Police were also both very friendly and understanding," she said.
Heller said she was particularly touched by the torrent of support for her "dear friend." But her emotions were mixed.
"I was less impressed with the inconsiderate wretch who stole the computer, and I would like to say to this person that you should seriously rethink your life of crime," she said. "It doesn't pay."
