The student publications committee decided Wednesday to not report the theft of last week’s issue of The Shield to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff Department at this time.
Campus security is actively conducting a full investigation and can pursue legal action at a later date, said Dean of Students Barry Schonberger, a nonvoting member of the committee.
The fact that The Shield does not list where to pay the additional 25 cents became an issue at the meeting.
“If it is a free publication, and it is, how can it be regarded as theft?” said Kathy Funke, director of News and Publication Services at USI. Funke is a voting member of the committee.
“If I decide to take three copies, how would I pay for it?”
At the bottom of every front page of The Shield, a note states: “The first issue free. Additional copies 25 cents.”
The issue is not just one of theft, but also a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of press, according to Patricia Ferrier, advisor to The Shield.
“Honestly, for me it’s the same as going to Schnucks and seeing a tray of free samples and eating all the samples,” said Wayne Rinks, acting chair of the communications department.
“Whether or not this issue should have gone as national, it has,” said Editor-in-Chief Jondi Schmitt. “This week alone the Website has gotten 30,000 hits alone, which means people are watching. If we don’t report this, it’s going to look the the university tolerates censorship.”
Newsstands were found empty the morning of Thursdau, Oct. 12, just hours after The Shield had been distributed across campus.
The Shield recieved an e-mail thae day after the disappearance that read, “In protest of the pictures featured in your absurd article on the nude photos, I have taken the liberty of throwing most of them away. Hopefully, I will get the rest.”
The identity of the individual who e-mailed The Shield is unknown. The e-mail address the anonymous e-mail was sent from was [email protected].
The issue of the newspaper that was allegedly stolen included a photo that had been published in The Aerie [now known as Fishhook], a student journal of letters and art, weeks beforehand.
The photo ran alongside a story about the controversey the photo had origonally caused when it first ran in The Aerie after USI Republicans stated that the photograph was pornographic.
“The investigation is ongoing,” said Barry Hart, director of security.
A second press run of the newspaper was circulated onto campus thae day after the theft.
Newspaper theft has become an increasingly popular means of censorship in universities across the country.
“When you have items out in public domain you’re relying heavily on the honesty of your fellow man,” said Hart.
Newspapers disappear every year on dozens of university campuses.
“It’s a growing, very effective form on censorship,” said Ferrier. “If someone doesn’t want others to read something, they steal it. Now that it’s happened once [at USI], someone else could do it again.”
Monday, Oct. 16 600 newspapers disappeard at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Security cameras filem two suspects in hooded sweatshirts lifting stacks of newspapers.
Last month [Sept. 2006], 2,700 copies of The East Texan, the student newspaper at Texas A&M University were stolen. About 300 copies of the newspaper were later dropped off at the school’s journalism building by the Delta Tau Delta president who claimed the newspapers were found on the front lawn of the fraternity house.
The fraternity was mentioned in the stolen issue’s cover story about being arrested for furnishing alcohol to a minor, possess of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
More than 2,500 copies of the Courier, the student newspaper at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill, went missing shortly after being distributed last May.
The newspaper ran cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad that had previously sparked riots by Muslims around the world.
Since the controversy surrounding the theft of The Shield, the USI College Republicans have condemned the theft of The Shield, according to their Website.
The original newspaper can be found in the University Archives & Collections.