Written by Lauren Bucher
Lightning can, apparently, strike the same place twice.Thieves broke into the villa at Harding University Florence during the night and stole an assortment of electronics Saturday, Nov. 13.Both the first fire and first robbery in the history of the villa occurred this semester. On Oct. 28, two weeks before the robbery, an electrical fire broke out in one of the women’s bedrooms. The room was severely fire-damaged, and smoke damaged the remainder of the rooms in the villa. Repainting of the rooms and restoration projects are already underway.Now, eight students had valuables stolen from them, including six laptops, charger cords, 80 euro in cash, a Kindle, an iTouch, a cell phone and headphones.”I have asked students to talk to their parents about coverage,” Robbie Shackleford, HUF director, said. “HUF does not have this type of coverage for students. We have coverage for the laptops that belonged to HUF. We are working on this issue.”Harding lost three laptops, three digital cameras, a video projector and several exterior hard drives, according to Shackleford. He said Kyle Thompson, the assistant director, had finished his Masters comp tests the night before and the laptop he saved his work on was stolen. Similarly, Shackleford’s wife, Mona, had her laptop stolen, which contained the students’ grades. Most of the information was, however, backed up on the server.Shackleford said he has filed a report of stolen items with the police.”It is very difficult to trace a theft like this,” Shackleford said. “They will probably be sold on the black market.”Students were on a trip in Naples when the robbery occurred. They found out about the robbery on the way back from their trip.”When I found out about the robbery, I couldn’t believe it,” sophomore Mallory Dell said. “We were on our way back to the villa from Naples and they announced it on the bus. They didn’t have a lot of details to give us.”Students and Shackleford said the intangibles, pictures and the memories they represented, are probably the most significant loss. “The majority of the semester’s documentation is lost,” Dell said. “They’re just pictures, but they’re also memories, and we can’t help but feel like some of those are lost now too. As much as the things we’ve lost hurt, I think that was the loss that carried the most weight.”Dell said she did not have any possessions stolen, as she was one of the seven female students not living in the villa, due to fire damages. “This is just one tiny part in our HUF experience,” Dell said. “We do have memories, we do have pictures, and it stinks that both of these tragedies have happened in our last month at the villa, but I don’t think those are the things we’ll think about when remembering HUF.”Students said they are taking the losses in stride.”As a group we are looking on the bright side; we are still all together and safe,” sophomore Andrew Clavert said. “This will leave a mark on our trip, but the people that we have on this trip intend not to let it affect the overall outcome. This was just another experience that has made our bonds closer and tighter together.
