St Catharine’s College has warned students of high levels of theft over the past weeks, after multiple students had their kitchens raided.

In an email circulated to the undergraduate student body on Monday morning (11/11) Dr Edward Wickham, the College’s Dean, has acknowledged the “number of thefts” that have occurred this term, and the “inconvenience and financial loss” incurred by these incidents.

Dr Wickham also pointed to a breakdown in “trust in a community that lives in such close proximity”.

The email drew attention to a “very significant theft from a kitchen on the Island Site over the weekend”. The victim of the theft, Hayden, said: “Almost the entirety of the fridge had been taken […] not only things like yogurts, ready meals, chilled soup and vegetables, but a full unopened pack of raw chicken breasts and 3 Tupperware containers holding about a weeks worth of food in them.”

Hayden emphasised the escalation of the problem: “They’ve gone from stealing one or two items at a time to a week’s worth of food for three people.”

“It is so violating that someone has repeatedly committed these transgressions against the college community, and it’s only escalating,” she continued. “I can’t afford to keep replacing food and containers; I’m in full receipt of the Cambridge Bursary,” she said.

“I matriculated in 2021 and I have never seen anything as disgraceful as this here,” she added.

Another recent victim reportedly lost a whole bag of shopping over the weekend, also bemoaning their food becoming the target of thefts.

Many older students claimed that they have never seen thievery of this scale during their previous years at the College, leading to speculation over the possible culprit, with one pointing blame towards this year’s new student intake.

The Dean revealed in his recent email that “it seems evident that the thefts are mostly perpetrated by students who do not live in the same corridors,” while other students have speculated whether it may not be one person due the sheer quantity of goods being stolen at a time.

The thievery has not stopped at gyps, either. In a post to the St Catharine’s College JCR Facebook page, an Ents Officer outlined a change from dropping club tickets in individual pidges, to in-person collection; this change was attributed to “Revs/Lola’s tickets being stolen from pidge on 2 different occasions”.

In his recent email, the Dean emphasised that “the college takes these incidents very seriously” and mentioned new measures to combat the issue. “On most of the Island site, gyp rooms are now lockable, with access only to students on the corridor,” Dr Wickham said.

As to why the thievery has recently escalated, Hayden said: “The culprit knows they’re not going to face any consequences”. “The only response that the college has given… has been ‘college takes these incidents seriously’ – clearly they don’t.”

A spokesperson from St Catharine’s told Varsity: “The Dean’s message this week was the first time this term that he had cause to write to all St Catharine’s undergraduates, which shows how seriously we are taking these reports but also how out of character they are for our community. The Dean has asked students who might have information to get in touch so it is possible for us to investigate further and deter any future incidents”.