UTAH — University police apprehended two Brigham Young Universitystudents Feb. 17 who admitted to stealing 10,000 copies — overhalf the press run — of the university’s student newspaper, TheDaily Universe.
According to Rob Rogers, assistant city editor for The DailyUniverse,the newspapers were stolen Feb. 15. The stolen issueincluded an article that questioned the eligibility of two candidatesfor student government.
The next day, a student who worked on campus as a custodiancalled the newspaper to report that he saw vehicles driving aroundin the early morning, Rogers said. That night, the universitypolice department identified two BYU students as suspects in thetheft.
BYU police presented the case to the Provo City district attorney,but he declined to prosecute, said Alan Wade, the university’svice president of student life.
The BYU honor code office is reviewing the students’ actions,Wade said. If found responsible for the theft, the students couldbe suspended from the university and forced to pay the cost ofthe stolen newspapers.
Although BYU police will not release the names of the two individualscharged with stealing the newspapers, Rogers said many on campusbelieve the theft was prompted by the article about the studentgovernment candidates."There really is no other reason for it to happen, when ithappened, to the extent that it happened," Rogers said. "Ithink [stealing newspapers] is a pretty weak response to somedecent journalism."
The two candidates discussed in the article withdrew from therace on Feb. 18, saying they did not meet the criteria for candidacy.