Every day, across campus, students and faculty leave things behind. Most of what is lost ends up in the OSU Surplus lost and found, where it is kept for a minimum of thirty days. Although, in one instance, a student had forgotten his jacket, and by the next day when he went to retrieve it, he was told it had been donated.

Not all campus buildings adhere to the OSU surplus lost and found guidelines, and at the time of the incident, Dixon Recreation Center had its own policy due to its own circumstances.

One of the buildings on campus that has an unusually high number of lost items is Dixon Rec Center, according to Operations and Events Manager for Dixon Recreation Center, Troy Snow. Until recently, however Dixon has not been able to coordinate with the OSU Surplus lost and found, according to Snow.

“ A couple of years ago, (OSU Surplus lost and found) said we aren’t able to manage that volume,” Snow said.

Every week, Dixon fills a large crate in the back of the facility with lost items, and much of it does not get retrieved, according to Snow.

“The previous practice had been that we would donate after a week or two weeks,” Snow said. “Now we have refined those policies, and it all goes to central lost and found.”

Snow refined the lost and found process and was, in part, influenced by input from students.

“I accidentally left my jacket, which was a birthday present, at Dixon,” said one student, who wishes to not be named. “After realizing I didn’t have my jacket two days later, I went in to Dixon to see if it was picked up by an employee and put in the lost and found. I described my jacket, but they informed me that anything found in the last month had been donated to goodwill.”

Upon hearing this news, the student immediately rushed to Goodwill, hoping to get a hold the jacket before it was marked for sale. However, Goodwill informed the student that the jacket had not been received.

This instance happened March 6, according to alumni Dave Wilson, a friend of this student. When Wilson caught word of what had happened, he decided to help out.

“I reached out to Dixon Rec,” Wilson said. “It was explained to me that Dixon does not participate in the OSU Surplus Property lost and found. A short time later, I got a call from the student operations manager at Dixon.”

The same day, Wilson was able to coordinate a meeting with Dixon staff and the student involved to try to find out what happened to the jacket.

“[The] coat was still on site, but was in the queue to be donated today,” Wilson said.

Wilson then got into contact with Snow, and informed him of the trouble they had to go to in order to pick up the jacket. Snow contacted OSU Surplus soon after, and was able to coordinate a new system for lost and found for Dixon Recreation Center.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Snow said. “If it is too much, we’ll figure out another solution.”

The sheer volume of lost property coming from Dixon has kept OSU Surplus lost and found from being able to coordinate efficiently with Dixon, according to Snow.

“We’re the central house for all of our programs and services,” Snow said. “Anything left on the intramural fields is brought here. We have revitalized our process in the last couple months to make sure our process is efficient.”

A few weeks after the student lost his coat, Dixon reformed their lost and found policy to adhere to OSU Surplus guidelines — any property brought to Dixon’s front desk is kept there for one week, before being sent to the central lost and found, where they will stay for a minimum of 30 days.