<p>Just an alert that my son's suite was entered sometime last evening and the roommate's laptop as well as my son's backpack were stolen. Apparently the suitemates left the hallway door open. If you live in or around Morewood and see math/econ/english notes and notebooks, or a Discrete Math book, dumped nearby please advise ASAP. They have reported it to the police. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>sorry to hear this. The trouble with Morewood (I discovered on my visitation to S graduation) is that it is a series of dorms linked together. The are often short hallways and doors to the rooms are not visible from the hall. There are more than one entrance to Morewood because there are more than one exit. </p>
<p>The value of a computer lock, insurance, backups, and passwords cannot be over stated. IBM/Leveno PC's used to have PC protection-registration-locking program on reported loss.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support - fortunately my son always locks up his laptop or the situation could have been much worse. There was a housing snafu that landed an handful of freshman in some oddly located suites that are basically hidden from any public view.</p>
<p>Morewood A?</p>
<p>I don't want to give too much detail online - please PM.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Also in the backpack was a White Sox World Series championship hat - if anyone finds one it may well be my son's. Thanks again-</p>
<p>I'm really sorry to hear about the burglary in your son's suite and I hope he can recover what has been stolen. It is even more sad to think that, most likely, whoever did that might be someone from the CMU community itself (it would be difficult for an outsider to have access to a residential building). Anyway, it is important that all students follow the safety tips suggested by the Campus Police, see this old 2005 police report : <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/police/ca_burgww_2005_5.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cmu.edu/police/ca_burgww_2005_5.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks very much for the advice - my son is quite security conscious and always secures his laptop but he is at the mercy of the suitemates. I will send him the info on registering it and advise him to add some kind of visible identification - both excellent ideas.</p>
<p>I believe that the roommate contract that students have to sign has a clause that says the door will stay locked whenever there is no one in the room. Technically, I suppose that the RA could try to enforce that for the suitemates.</p>
<p>I'm assuming that your son has one of the suites with the bathroom between the two rooms, because otherwise locking their door would keep people out. Your son and his roommate could just lock the door to the bathroom on their suitemates' side whenever they leave. The suitemates wouldn't appreciate it (since they couldn't get to the bathroom), but it would keep people out of their room. Maybe it would encourage the suitemates to lock their door in the future.</p>
<p>The house manager has already met to enforce the door locking. (There's been other issues with the suitemates involving alcohol.) The suite is an unusual one but I'm not posting the details which might make it identifiable online - please PM me if you're interested. There's no way to secure the bedroom if my son and his roommate are out. If necessary I will investigate one of those locks/door alarms they sell for travelers.</p>