Thief steals 22 international flags before Condoleezza Rice speech

By Jocelyn Wright     11/20/08 6:00pm

Last Thursday, the night before the 15th anniversary celebration of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 22 international flags were stolen, leaving Baker Institute staff void of props for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech just hours before it began. The flags, which have a collective value of $1,342, were stored in the Centennial Campaign tent between the Baker Institute and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management before the event. The flags have not been found, Rice University Police Captain Dianna Marshall said, although replacements were found before the event started.

The flags disappeared the night before the event after being left in the tent, which does not have a locking mechanism, Marshall said. They were reported missing Thursday morning.

Marshall said one of the biggest worries was whether Rice University would be able to find replacements for the flags, some of which were rare and difficult to find, before the event began 6 p.m. Thursday.

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"The concern was the embarrassment to the university had we not been able to find replacements prior to the event taking place," Marshall said.

The City of Houston owns eight of the 22 stolen flags. The events company that set up the event provided the remaining flags.

Since none of the valuable sound and lighting equipment in the tent was taken and some of the flags were left behind, Marshall said she suspects someone from the university community is responsible for the theft. Hoping to uncover some clues, Adviser to the Dean of Undergraduates Matthew Taylor sent an e-mail out on college listserves Thursday at 10 a.m.

"There are no indications that students are responsible for the theft," Taylor wrote in the e-mail. "However, as we all know, Rice students occasionally go a bit far when it comes to pranks. So, just in case the flags are still on campus, we'd be grateful for any assistance you might offer in passing the word both about the incident and the importance of having the flags returned no later than 4:00 p.m. today."

The e-mails generated no response.

RUPD officers also fingerprinted items they believed were touched during the removal of the flags, but Marshall said RUPD has not received any leads on the whereabouts of the missing flags.

"The more time that passes, the less likely the chances are that the flags will be recovered," she said.

Marshall said anyone with information on the missing flags should contact RUPD at extension 6000 or via their confidential and anonymous eyewitness reporting portal online at RUPD's Web site rupd.rice.edu.

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