\nALABAMA – The entire 2,000-copy press run of an edition\nof the Aumnibus, the student newspaper of Auburn University\nat Montgomery was stolen after being distributed around campus\nin April.
Aumnibus editor Joseph Patton reported the theft to\nthe campus police immediately, who falsely informed him that because\nthe paper was offered for free, he could not take any legal action.
“I basically got the impression that they never really\ndid much,” Patton said. “They acted like because it\nwas free, nothing really wrong was done.”
At Marion Military Institute between 600 to 800 issues of the\nSkirmisher student newspaper were removed by an administrator\nduring the school’s alumni weekend.
“[The administrator] said that some information in the\nissue would hurt the school’s recruiting,” said Mary Rankin\nBrooks, the paper’s adviser.
Brooks said the administrator did return the confiscated papers\nto the Skirmisher office later that week, but the opportunity\nfor a wide circulation was gone.
The theft problems at Marion did not end there.
“Extra copies of the year’s last issue, which customarily\nsit around in the library and administration building for people\nto pick up all summer, have totally disappeared,” Brooks\nsaid.
While Brooks did ask the admissions office to pay for the printing\nof the first stolen issue, no suspects have been identified in\nthe second theft.\n