GEORGIA — Berry College officials are investigating the
university's cheerleading squad for stealing about 900 copies of the student
newspaper on Feb. 7.
The entire cheerleading squad took responsibility for the theft and came
forward to the Student Affairs Office, Associate Vice President of Student
Affairs Julie Bumpus said.
The cheerleaders returned the papers to Student Affairs on Feb. 8 and
redistributed them to campus buildings. The Campus Carrier, the student
paper, typically distributes 1,800 to 2,000 copies of their weekly issue.
Staffers at the
Carrier believe the papers were stolen because of an
opinion
column that ran criticizing the cheerleaders for their lack of passion
during basketball games, Editor in Chief Ashton Staniszewski said.
"As a student newspaper, we offer to be the voice of all the students," he
said. "And it's unfortunate that an opinion set them off like that."
At least two students witnessed people taking papers from racks in
different campus buildings, the
Carrier reported.
Pam McMorrow, staff adviser for the cheerleading squad, declined to comment
on the incident when the Student Press Law Center called her on Friday.
The SPLC sent messages requesting comment on Tuesday to several
cheerleaders through the Facebook social networking site, but none of the women
had responded by Wednesday afternoon.
The Student Affairs Office is currently in the middle of its investigation
of the theft and is not sure when it will be completed, Bumpus said.
"When that phase is completed, we'll decide on what, if any, (disciplinary)
charges are involved," she said.
The athletic department could also take separate disciplinary action
against the cheerleaders after Student Affairs rules on the incident, the
Carrier reported.
Staniszewski said the theft was unfortunate and stifled student free speech
on campus.
"I feel like it was a major disrespect not only to the members of the paper
but to the members of the campus community," he said. "I'd like to see some sort
of justified punishment."
By Emilie Yam, SPLC staff writer
