WISCONSIN —- More than 3,000 issues of theExponent student newspaper disappeared from the University of Wisconsinat Platteville campus Wednesday.The Oct. 9 issue, which was distributedat points throughout campus between 6 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 8, were missing by 10p.m. that evening, said Tom Hammell, executive editor of theExponent.Hammell, as well as faculty adviser Art Ranney, declinedsuggesting suspects, saying they did not want to implicate anyone withoutknowledge of their guilt.”It’s possible that this was donein retaliation for Exponent coverage,” Ranney said, though hesuggested a second possible motive. ”It [also] could’ve been ahomecoming prank.”Jeff Wedige, a university police officer, saidthat the university is investigating the case but has no solid leads at thispoint.He added that if anyone were caught, they would be referred to thedistrict attorney. If caught, a thief could face either a misdemeanor or felonytheft charge, depending on whether the attorney factored lost ad revenue andsalaries into the value of the theft or only included printingcosts.Ranney said that the newspaper lost approximately $3,700 as aresult of the theft, $1,200 of which was for printing. The other losses includedad revenue, commissions on ad sales and stipends for studentjournalists.The Exponent reprinted the issue Thursday anddistributed it in the evening without incident.