By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 27, 1998

Police Beat

A political science professor Wednesday discovered that someone had scattered a number of books near her office door in the Social Sciences building, 1145 E. South Campus Drive.

The woman told university police she suspects one of her students may have left the derangement because he has been hostile toward her in class.

The woman found the books on the ground, jammed underneath the door and stuffed in the door jamb when she arrived at her third-floor office at 11 a.m., police reports stated.

She told police she was trying to get approval to drop the student from her class because he has a poor attitude and doesn't participate, reports stated.

The professor is not accusing the student of the scattering, but told police that she believes he is capable of such action because of their hostile relationship, reports stated.

Nearly $8,500 worth of computer equipment was stolen Wednesday from a lab in McClelland Hall, 1130 E. Helen St.

An employee told university police that four computer systems, valued at $2,100 each, were missing from the northeast side of the lab when she arrived at 7:30 a.m.

Each computer had a 17-inch color monitor, a 200-megahertz central processing unit and keyboard, reports stated.

The computers were last known to be in the lab at 3:30 a.m., the time of the last recorded electronic communication with the main network, reports stated.

A steel cable used to secure the four machines was cut, and the culprit may have propped open an exit door with a floor mat to get into the building, reports stated.

University police are looking for two graduate students who accumulated nearly $20,000 worth of overdue books at the Main Library, 1510 E. University Blvd.

A library employee called police Feb. 17 after failed attempts to retrieve the books from the two students, who had overdue fines of $12,600 and $6,055, respectively.

The library worker said the first student had 142 books and the other 67 books that have been checked out for about a year.

Attempts to locate the students with their addresses listed at the university Registrar's Office and Dean of Students' Office have been unsuccessful, reports stated.

Tuesday, the student holding the $12,600 in unreturned books came back to the library and returned about $4,000 worth of books, but was able to leave before police could be called, reports stated.

A Tucson man was rousted by university police Wednesday after security officers found him asleep in the Arizona Health Sciences Center library, 1501 N. Campbell Ave.

Police woke the man up at 4:22 a.m. to ask for identification and discovered he was not a student but had a University of Arizona identification card, police reports stated.

The man told police some UA professors had given him permission to do research on campus and attend classes.

Police told the man they would investigate his story and warned him for trespassing because University Medical Center employees had complained about him using the area as a personal residence, reports stated.

As police left, the man said that he belonged to the university community and should be left alone, reports stated.

A student called university police Wednesday to report his bicycle had been stolen from the courtyard of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house, 1050 N. Cherry Ave.

The student told police he parked his $499 Motiv mountain bike in the courtyard about 6 p.m. Tuesday, police reports stated.

When the student returned at 1 a.m., two ATO fraternity members said they saw a woman ride away on his bike about 6:30 p.m., reports stated.

The student told police he did not remember his bike's serial number and the only unique characteristic was a tear on the rear corner of the seat.

Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.