As the spring semester winds down, many students look forward to selling back textbooks for extra cash.

Two University students won’t get that chance, because their textbooks were stolen last week from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house on the 1800 block of University Avenue Southeast.

According to the police report:

The three books cost nearly $350. One of the books contained the victim’s name and notes. One of the other victim’s books had his name in it, and the other book had no identifying marks.

The victims contacted the University of Minnesota Bookstores and discovered their books had already been sold to the store.

University Bookstores director Bob Crabb said students should put a marking on a specific page inside each of their books. If a textbook is stolen, students can contact the bookstore so the staff can identify the book before it’s sold back, he said.

“We’re glad to watch for those, and we do catch people occasionally,” Crabb said.

Students must present their student identification card to sell books to the bookstore. The policy helps prevent outsiders from stealing textbooks and selling them for cash, he said.

It is important for students to report a stolen textbook to the East Bank bookstore as soon as possible to ensure the bookstore doesn’t inadvertently buy the book back, Crabb said. The East Bank bookstore will then notify all other campus bookstores.

In other police news:

ï University police cited at least 36 people last weekend for underage consumption on campus, according to the police reports.

“It’s spring, people are partying,” said University police Capt. Steve Johnson.

The department is using alcohol- and gambling-enforcement grant money to target underage drinking this spring, he said.

ï A 30- to 35-year-old white male masturbated in front of two women in the early afternoon April 15 in the doorway of a Blegen Hall classroom, Johnson said.

The suspect was described as a clean-shaven man between 5-foot-9 and 6 feet tall with short brown hair and a medium build, he said.

Johnson said indecent exposure is not a common problem on campus, but perpetrators tend to repeat the behavior.

ï A 19-year-old University
student reported to University police a man tried to swindle him for money Saturday on the 1100 block of University Avenue Southeast, according to the police report.

The alleged perpetrator, a black man 30 to 40 years old, asked the student for gas money, Johnson said.

Johnson said the student recognized the man because he had given him $60 for gas money in December.

The suspect is described as six feet tall with brown eyes, black hair and a medium build.

Joanna Dornfeld welcomes comments at [email protected]