The University of Wisconsin Union has a problem — its colorful metal chairs are being stolen.

This summer, as an increasing number of the Union’s iconic chairs were being taken away, many concerned Badgers, including Wisconsin Union Communications Director Marc Kennedy, became acutely aware of the problem.

‘Tis the season: a look back at the history of the iconic Terrace chair

In past years the problem of chair theft was limited to about 60-70 chairs being taken in total, some of which were recovered. This past summer, Kennedy and others began to notice the number growing.

“There weren’t as many places to sit on the Terrace … We did an inventory on the chairs and found that between April [when the chairs went out] and midsummer there weren’t enough places for people to sit,” Kennedy said.

Suspicions of theft were confirmed when in midsummer the staff took inventory of the chairs at the Terrace, revealing that about 250 of the 1,000 Union chairs were, in fact, missing.

The spike in the volume of chair thefts can be attributed to the recent expansion of the Terrace’s physical footprint, Kennedy said.

“This year we added about 300 more chairs in a more spread out space, making it easier for someone in the middle of the night to just go down by the water, pick up a chair and take off,” Kennedy said.

In order to prevent further chair thefts from occurring, the Union promptly instituted a 24-hour “night watchman” service to walk around the perimeter of the building and ensure that no chairs were being stolen.

However, the UW Police Department is still faced with the task of obtaining the 250 missing chairs. UWPD sent out a notice Oct. 7, stating they were partnering with the Wisconsin Union in order to lower the number of the missing iconic yellow, blue, green and orange chairs.

With the help of UWPD, word throughout the community was spread to keep an eye out for these colorful chairs missing from the Union. When the notice went out, they received several tips on locations, and were able to recover about a dozen chairs.

Recovering the 225 still-missing Union chairs is an ongoing process.

“If you have a chair and you took it, the Union will take it back, no questions asked. We [UWPD] will even take a chair back, no questions asked,” Marc Lovicott, UWPD spokesperson, said. “If we find a chair on someone’s property that has been stolen, the person could face fines.”

Fines for stolen chairs can be upwards of $500.

The Union does not want anyone to get in trouble with the police, Kennedy said. They just want to get their chairs back and hope the people who took them will return them, he said.

“We get it,” Kennedy said. “The Union chairs are iconic, they are a symbol of the University, they are nostalgic and represents to people all the great times that they’ve had, but they need to be where they are for everyone to enjoy.”

The chairs retail for $335, and are available for purchase in “Badger Red” and “Winter Terrace White” on the Wisconsin Union’s website.

Correction: The chairs retail for $335. The article previously stated they retailed for $300. We regret the error.