Every gameday on campus, whether it be for men's soccer or women's basketball or baseball out at Henry Aaron Field, Kris Heijnen gets to work early. Kris is the full-time intern for the athletic department's marketing section, and full-time just doesn't really explain how much work he does. His routine on gamedays is simple; do what you can to get the students to the games. In the morning, that entails lugging around a dozen or so A-frames, advertising the game, to certain high-traffic spots on campus. He can't be 12 places at once, but these can. Now, even the A-Frames can't do it. Why?

Because since the beginning of the school year, seven athletics A-frames have been stolen on campus. Some jokers must have thought that it would be hilarious to steal one of the only means of letting students know about sporting events. Heijnen isn't laughing.

"It doesn't even make sense. It's really difficult to move; students would have to put in a lot of effort to steal those. On top of that, they have no real use for them anyways," Heijnen said.

Two of the A-frames went missing in the early fall semester, during soccer and volleyball seasons. Another went AWOL on a women's basketball gameday in November. But no less than four have been stolen since the beginning of December, making it extremely difficult for an already overworked Heijnen to get the job done. With too little money from the Student Association through segregated fees, the athletic department can't hire the necessary staff to let John Q. Student know about games or all of the free stuff he can get just by going. They also can't afford to keep replacing A-frames when a wiseguy decides his next joke is going to be childish, stupid and unfunny.

"At this point, we just want them back. There aren't any consequences for the people who stole them to bring the frames back, we just need them to do our job." The A-frames are worth a lot more to the athletic department than any student, and they are willing to accept the A-frames from forthcoming students no harm done.

If you have any information as to where the A-frames are, stop by the athletic department in the Klotsche Center and let someone know. Stolen A-frames can be dropped off in front of the Klotsche Center doors.

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