Last week two advertisements were removed from Shield newsstands.

The ads were placed that week and were for a promotion offered by Boudoir Noir’s Exotica, an adult entertainment store in Evansville. The ad was deemed appropriate by The Shield, otherwise it would not have ran in its current form.

The first thought by staff was that the ad was removed because of its content, but the next day, Public Safety notified our circulation coordinator that based upon footage from a security camera it was found to be not theft, but a misunderstanding.

A member of university staff thought the poster had been put up on the newsstand without university permission, making them illegal pieces of advertising on campus.

In a sense, if the ad had been removed out of discontent with its content, it would have been easier to understand. Or at least be less surprising.

But a misunderstanding is hard to digest.

The problem with misunderstandings is in most cases they are one hundred percent avoidable. A simple phone call or even the walk downstairs to our office could have stopped a problem before it started.

The issue falls to not understanding how The Shield works or taking the initiative to understand.

With this, The Shield would like to also answer a few questions that came up in the process of this situation that could have stopped the problem before it started.

Yes, The Shield does regularly post paid advertisements on its newsstands.

Our organization is funded by sales made by students in our sales department. Students like the one who made the sale for three newsstand posters only to find out to needed to be reprinted and replaced.

Advertising is also offered in our weekly print edition, online and in our tabloid publications.

Yes, The Shield is responsible for its own newsstands.

Anything that is posted on or removed from them must be done by a Shield employee.

We extend an open invitation to drop by our office or give us a call to learn more about how we work and what we do.

We are proud to put our work out to this campus and we hope that in turn campus makes an effort to interact with that content and our staff. We welcome questions, comments and concerns from anyone in the campus community.

We hope next time instead of pulling down a piece of advertising anyone with questions will pick up the phone and let communication stop a situation before it happens.