UMass Boston’s annual literary journal, The Watermark, was the apparent victim of a theft sometime between December 28, 2001 and January 3, 2002. According to Sarah Reddick, the journal’s editor, “between 200 and 250 student submissions” disappeared from The Watermark office on the fourth floor of the Wheatley Building sometime during that period.

Reddick explained that these submissions, stored in an unlocked file cabinet, were scheduled to be reviewed over the semester break and there were no copies made. After contacting her staff and making a thorough search of the office to make sure the submissions had not been misplaced or misfiled, Reddick contacted UMB Public Safety to report what appeared to be a theft.

“I was absolutely shocked and disgusted. We didn’t keep a running list. We didn’t feel there was any need as we were going to go over them during the break,” noted Reddick. “But I’m pathologically optimistic that we will be able to create a better book. We’re receiving help from everybody. What happened just deepened our support,” she added.

Detective Keith Harrington, who was assigned the case by the UMB Public Safety Department, explained, “It’s considered a larceny. The investigation is current and open,” therefore he couldn’t comment any further.

These submissions, which included poetry, plays, short fiction, non-fiction, photography and other visual artwork submitted by UMB undergraduate and graduate students, were the only things reported missing from the office.

Donna Neal, the associate director of Student Life, stated, “I think that whoever did this has done a great disservice not just to The Watermark, but also to the students who submitted work and the greater UMass Boston community who enjoy reading and viewing the student’s work.”

Reddick noted that she and her staff are taking a number of steps to deal with the problem. The submission deadline has been extended to March 8 (the previous deadline was December 21). “We’re keeping the deadline on sending the book to the printer, which is March 29. So The Watermark will come out on time,” explained Reddick. She also said that they will now be accepting submissions year round and that anything coming in after March 8 will be eligible for the 2003 edition.

There will also be Informational Meetings held on February 4 and 7, from 2:30pm-3:30pm in the Wheatley Student Lounge, for students who have questions about what has happened. “It’s an opportunity for students who can’t retrieve their work to grieve,” Reddick said.

Detective Harrington will be attending these meetings to address student concerns, one of which is that whoever took the submissions now has access to student names and their social security numbers “We have a number of different fraud prevention measures that would allow students to detect any fraudulent misuse of their social security numbers,” noted Harrington.

“The bottom line is that students should absolutely take advantage of their opportunity to have their work published. We should not let evil prevail,” concluded Reddick.