The last time Liv Licursi ’25 saw her bike — a gift from her parents worth about $600 — was the day before classes started. She was visiting a friend’s apartment in Collegetown and left it unlocked outside for 10 minutes.
When she came back, it was gone. She called the police to the scene, and an Ithaca Police Department officer issued a report.
“He did tell me this happens all the time,” Licursi said. “That’s when I discovered the community of people who have had their bikes stolen here.”
Licursi gave the officer her contact information and has not heard anything since.
Since the beginning of this semester, campus police have reported 51 bike and scooter thefts in and around campus, totaling at least $41,177 in thefts with only one arrest made. In just four of the 51 cases, the bicycles were “recovered intact,” according to an online Cornell University Police Department crime bulletin.
Samantha Davies, a first-year Ph.D. student, said her initial impression was that Cornell’s campus was “very safe, so I just got a cheap bike lock.” She came to regret that decision when her electric bike, with a sticker price of $2,025, was stolen on Sept. 24, just a month into the semester, from the Riley Robb bike rack.
Davies met with a campus police officer that evening to finalize the report. The case was never solved, and the officer told her there were no cameras near the bike rack.
Since then, Davies said she has not opted to purchase a new bike and now commutes to campus with her partner in the car they share.
“Even today, when I am driving and see people biking, I’m always thinking, is this person on my bike?” Davies said.
Reid Fleishman ’25 has had a bike on campus since his freshman year. “I’ve always heard about bikes being stolen,” Fleishman told The Sun. “But I thought it was not going to happen to me.”
Fleishman’s bike was stolen in May 2024. He had left his bike locked up in the Carpenter Hall bike rack overnight. The next morning, he returned to find only his cut bike lock and helmet.
Fleishman spent the rest of the day wandering campus and downtown Ithaca in search of his bike as well as filing a report with the police. Fleishman said the police initially told him, “Your bike is probably gone for good.” Over the next couple of weeks, he continued to follow up with the police, but they had no luck recovering the bike either.
The eight-year-old bike, worth about $400, held more than just material value to Fleishman, a self-described “big biking person.” Ultimately, Fleishman purchased another bike, taking measures to make the bike “unstealable.” He said that he uses both a thick cable lock and a thick U-lock, in addition to two hidden AirTags.
The Sun reached out to a CUPD spokesperson and approached CUPD Chief Anthony Bellamy in person for comment on the tens of thousands of dollars in bike and scooter thefts and what campus police have been doing to put an end to the problem. Both referred all questions to a University spokesperson, who declined to answer most of those questions, except to urge Cornellians to take theft-prevention measures, including registering their bikes with Transportation Services, personalizing them and locking them with a U-lock rather than a cable lock.
“Taking these precautions can make a big difference in keeping your bike or scooter safe,” the University spokesperson wrote in an email statement to The Sun. “Stay vigilant, and don’t hesitate to report anything suspicious.”
Kaitlyn Xia ’28 is a Sun contributor and can be reached at [email protected].
Correction, Nov. 16, 5:02 p.m.: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that there have been zero arrests in connection with the bike thefts. One arrest was made throughout the semester.
Correction, Nov. 16, 5:02 p.m.: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that a campus police officer issued a report on Liv Licursi’s ’25 bike theft. It was an Ithaca Police Department officer.