Lawrence Hall is home to the College of Design. (Henry Ward/Emerald)

At Lawrence Hall, students participating in painting classes have claimed that the art supplies they purchased — the cost of which totals hundreds of dollars — has been stolen.

University of Oregon student Anna Strobe took a Painting I class spring term of 2024. Strobe said that the kit they had to purchase for class and valued at $270 was stolen.

“It’s frustrating having things being taken from us when we dedicate so much time and money to our work,” Strobe said.

In an email statement UO Spokesperson Eric Howald said, “The UOPD searched through our records of recent reports at Lawrence Hall, but the only theft reported was of a laptop.”

Strobe said that they and their peers chose not to report the thefts to UOPD because they don’t believe that they’ll receive a response.

“I didn’t make a report because I’ve had several peers tell me that UOPD writes down their info and says that they’ll ‘look into it’ and nothing comes out of it,” Strobe said. “I honestly didn’t think that they would do anything.”

Strobe reported that after they discovered their supplies had been stolen, they had to share supplies with fellow classmates who had also been robbed.

Piper Shanks, another Painting I student, said that they had also had supplies stolen.

“I have never had anything stolen from Lawrence before until taking Painting,” Shanks said. “The paints from my kit were stolen but everything else stayed. [This] means that someone had to go into my kit and take the paints — which is super creepy.”

Both Strode and Shanks said that their professor was very understanding of the situation, and worked to provide them with a temporary kit they could use throughout the term.

The professor for the Painting I class declined to comment.

Strobe expressed that the experience was a cautionary tale, and said, “In the future I will definitely take more precautions to protect my supplies.”

Lawrence Hall staff encourage students with expensive art supplies to either purchase a lock for a locker or carry their supplies to and from class. Students should also not leave their supplies unattended.