While it may not be common, students have reported CASA employees losing items they were given to hold before walking into an exam. | Trevor Nolley/The Cougar
When a student checks in their personal items before they take an exam at one of the CASA Testing Centers, they expect to get their items back after once they’ve finished their test. For MIS junior Garrett Broussard, this was not the case.
One of Broussard’s personal items went missing after taking an exam at the Classroom and Business Building CASA Testing Center, after he followed the routine steps required of students prior to taking an exam.
“I checked my backpack and belongings in there, but I had a hat on walking in, and they stopped me,” Broussard said. “I said that it was no problem, and I would just go put it in my backpack, but one of the guys said they would take care of it for me.”
CASA testing centers have a straightforward process before students can take their exams: sign-in, check in any personal belongings, scan your fingerprint to verify your identity and then you’re ready to test.
Employees give every student that checks in personal items a numbered card that represents the storage unit the employee will put their belongings in to.
When the student is done taking their test, they hand the card back to the employee, and they get the their items back from the assigned storage.
A hat is not listed as a prohibited item, according to the testing center’s rules posted online, but Broussard did as the employee said.
After Broussard came out of his test to retrieve his things, he was provided with everything but the his hat.
When he realized that the hat was gone, Broussard was told to file a police report for the missing item, which he chose not to do.
“They said that they were sorry because they gave it away to someone,” Broussard said. “I know it was just a hat, but it had sentimental meaning behind it.”
There are three different CASA testing locations on campus: the CBB, Agnes Arnold Hall and Susanna Garrison Gym. CASA states on its website that it “is not responsible for any lost, misplaced or damaged personal belongings.”
Petroleum engineering student Nikhil Thulamandi works at the CBB CASA testing center and said that CASA employees have bag storage regulations they are expected to follow.
Thulamandi said that the workers do not touch any of the stuff once it is in storage, and they insist that students keep everything inside their bag.
“I’ve never been in a situation where someone’s stuff was taken,” Thulamandi said.
With midterms on the horizon, Thulamandi said that CASA testing centers have many students coming in and out.
Thulamandi said that himself and other CASA employees ask that students bring less of their things with them to the testing center. When students do bring extra items, make sure it is all in one bag as a way to prevent any sort of future confusion.
