Files stolen from the Office of Residential Life late last term were returned in a box with a brief apology note on it a few days after ORL reported the burglary May 25, Hanover Police Detective Jerry Macy said yesterday.
The box was left outside of ORL's offices, Macy said. Assistant Dean of Residential Life Alison Keefe said Safety and Security officials found the box, which was turned over to Hanover Police and sent to the FBI forensic lab in Washington, D.C.
Administrators said the files taken from Keefe's office in the basement of Parkhurst Administration building had membership lists of the College's six senior societies taken from College billing lists and of prospective members who were tapped during Winter and Spring terms.
The files also had the names of each society's advisor and student liaison to ORL.
ORL said administrators noticed the files were missing Friday, May 20 but did not know they were stolen until copies of the four secret societies' membership lists were provided to The Dartmouth and The Dartmouth Review, an off-campus conservative weekly, in anonymous letters that surfaced the evening of May 24.
College officials also said a computer disk and some stationary from Sphinx, an all-male secret society, were stolen from the Blunt Alumni Center desk of Jeff Sassorossi '75, Sphinx advisor and a senior associate director of the Alumni Fund.
Macy said all the items reported missing from Sassorossi's desk were also returned in the box.
Macy said despite interviews with those involved in the case, including two suspects, no arrests have been made.
"All leads have been followed up and have led to dead ends," Macy said.
Keefe said yesterday she was relieved that the files were returned but she still is "disconcerted" about the situation.
"I can't believe someone wanted those files so badly and would risk their whole Dartmouth career," she said.
College Proctor Robert McEwen had no comment yesterday.
Casque and Gauntlet, Cobra, Dragon, Fire and Skoal, Phoenix and Sphinx comprise the College's six senior societies. Dragon and Sphinx are secret, all-male societies and Cobra and Phoenix are secret, all-female societies. Casque and Gauntlet and Fire and Skoal are open and coed.
