NEWS

Campus lost and found sees it all

The WCC “lost and found” is located in the Public Safety office that can be found on the second floor of the parking structure. Sara Faraj | Washtenaw Voice

By Kevin Gerych
Staff Writer

It’s an all too familiar occurrence that has happened to just about everybody at some point. You have left something behind, something of yours has become dislodged and broken free or otherwise has gone missing.

Whether it’s your cell phone, computer, backpack or any other miscellanea you may bring to campus on a normal day of classes that has “mysteriously” disappeared, chances are that it has been turned into the lost & found at the Public Safety office.

“All lost property, aside from student ID cards is turned into the Public Safety office,” said Washtenaw Community College’s chief of public safety Scott Hilden. “Lost student ID cards are turned into on second floor of the Student Center at the Student Connections office.”

The list of commonly lost or misplaced items is long and diverse, from the common items such as coats, purses and an array of electronics to others ranging into the more bizarre and eclectic.

“People drop stuff, so we get it all,” Hilden said. “Anything that you would think anybody would bring has been lost.”

Some of the stranger items turned into public safety include various animals. These have included a puppy, a chicken, a homing pigeon and even a bearded dragon lizard.

“The bearded dragon was left here in a cage, somebody had abandoned it,” Hilden said. “Someone had just had enough of it and it was brought to us.”

The process of being reunited with lost property is not difficult, but some of the more valuable items found on campus may require a bit of extra verification to ensure they are being returned to their rightful owners.

“If it’s something that’s valuable, we’ll verify that it belongs to them,” Hilden said. “If it’s a computer, we’ll have you put your password in and see you log in to make sure it belongs to you.”

Public Safety sees several items turned in on an average day. These numbers are considered fairly normal for a campus the size of WCC.

“You figure that during winter semester, there are roughly 12,000 students registered, 1,000 plus staff members, as well as 20,000-40,000 visitors on campus,” said Hilden. “So, we do end up getting a lot of stuff turned in.”