INDIANA — The Student Publications Committee and editors of
The Shield, the University of Southern Indiana’s student newspaper,
are clashing over how a recent case of newspaper theft should be
handled.
When 2,300 copies of
The Shield disappeared from news
stands Oct. 11, editors immediately notified campus security and wanted to file
a report with local police. But Adviser Patricia Ferrier said she decided to
involve the committee in determining whether the investigation should be handled
outside of the university.
“I thought the committee should be
aware of the effects of the theft and have a role in deciding who would be in
charge of investigating,” Ferrier said.
The committee, comprised
of students, faculty and administrators, voted against filing a police report.
Jondi Schmitt,
The Shield’s editor in chief, said
she was disappointed with the committee’s decision, and that it is
“completely ignoring the issue at hand.”
Despite the
recommendation, Schmitt could still decide to file a police report, Ferrier
said. The committee’s recommendation is not binding.
Kathy Funke,
the university’s director of news and information and a committee member,
said the committee’s decision is not final but rather a “first
step” in the investigation on campus.
“I think the faculty
and administration just want to investigate ourselves and see what else is
involved,” Funke said.
Committee Chair Wayne Rinks said an argument
was made that the incident should be handled internally for the “good of
public relations.” The stolen newspaper issue included a photo of two
women kissing on its front page, which had initially appeared in a campus
magazine and sparked a heated debate.
The Shield was covering the
controversy surrounding the photo and an anonymous e-mail sent to editors
confirmed that the newspapers were taken because of the photo.
Committee
members also questioned whether the incident could be classified as theft, Rinks
said.
The Shield is a free newspaper, and additional copies are supposed
to cost 25 cents, but committee members argued that there is no mechanism in
place for students to pay that fee.
“The argument is that someone
could say they meant to pay for the 2,000 papers but didn’t know where to
pay for them,” said Ferrier, a non-voting member of the committee.
While Colorado, Maryland and California have specific newspaper theft
laws, other states have prosecuted newspaper thieves under general theft
statutes. Schmitt said she will continue to pursue the case, but is unsure
whether she will file a police report.
Meanwhile, Schmitt says campus
security is continuing its investigation and is looking into the anonymous
e-mail, which is believed to have come from a university computer. The stolen
copies were reprinted Oct. 12 and campus security increased surveillance around
distribution racks. There were no reports of theft occurring with the reprinted
issues.
By Marnette Federis, SPLC staff writer
