Lens on Life at the Lost and Found

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Have you ever lost something of great value? A book? Your cellphone? Or maybe a piece of clothing? Do you remember the wave of panic you felt when you first realized it was missing and the way you worried if the wrong person found it? How you would feel if you never got it back? Well, William Babishoff experienced just that. The day had begun like any another for William, who spent most of his time that Friday taking photos for Earth Week. It wasn’t until Saturday that he realized the trouble he was in, “I had two [lenses] with me. The one missing was a 50 mm Pentax camera lens”

Monday morning, and Babishoff visited the Stevenson Union’s Information Booth to ask about his lost camera lens. The current attendant at the information booth took him to their Lost and Found storage room, where William and his lens were reunited, “It could have easily been sold on craigslist, so I’m thankful it was returned.”

But not all lost and found stories have a happy ending, like William’s. Lately, there have been a few posts on Craigslist about missing belongings, whose endings we don’t know. But if you can’t find your lost item on Craigslist or anywhere else consider asking a SOU faculty member where the lost and found storage room is. Every building on campus should have their own lost and found, which eventually reports to the campus’s main lost and found at the SU in Room 331A. There the inventory is kept and documented on computers to help with organization.

All items are kept until the end of fall and spring term. Then a notice is sent out to students telling them that in two weeks they will clean out the Lost & Found and give everything away. Oregon State rules do not allow the campus to just give things to students, staff, or faculty so everything goes to local charities or Goodwill. The SOU website has provided some tips on how to help return an item to its rightful owner:
• Write your name in your notebooks.
• Put contact information on your USB drives.
• Add a contact named Owner on your cell phone.
• Keep an image with your contact information on your digital camera.
• Provide a way to contact you on your calculator, school books, backpacks, or anything else you don’t want to lose.

You can contact the Lost & Found by phone number, 552-6461, or by email: su_scheduling@sou.edulost and found