NEW YORK — More than 2,000 copies of the Feb. 6 edition of thestudent paper at the State University of New York at Brockport were stolen overa period of five days.
On Feb. 7, about 1,500 copies of the weekly paper, The Stylus, werestolen in the middle of the day from a distribution rack in the student union.All but a few dozen were recovered from trash cans around the union and put backin the rack, Editor in Chief Laura Luettger said.
Staffers believe the theft is related to a controversial article about theimpeachment of the student government’s vice president, she said.
The article contained information from a private student governmentexecutive session, said Chris Dailey, chief of staff of the Brockport StudentGovernment.
“Someone leaked the information to the paper and revealed a lot ofinformation that wasn’t supposed to be public,” he said.
But Dailey said he thought the article was fair.
The Student Press Law Center left phone and e-mail messages with StudentGovernment Vice President Randall Franklin on Tuesday afternoon requestingcomment; Franklin had not responded by Wednesday evening.
University police referred comment about the investigation to the college’scommunications department.
“The university police [department] is investigating right now,” saidspokesman Nicholas Mascari. “That’s about where it is right now.”
Mascari said he did not know if police had any suspects in theinvestigation.
University Police Chief Robert Kehoe did not say if a surveillance camerain the student union caught the theft on tape, The Rochester Democrat andChronicle reported.
About 100 papers were stolen on Feb. 8 from the fine arts building. Some ofthe papers were found in the trash but could not be redistributed because theywere in bad condition. More than 500 additional papers were taken Feb. 11 fromthe student union; 70 of those were later recovered, Luettger said.
About 5,000 copies of the Stylus are distributed per week at aprinting cost of about $1 per newspaper. At least 600 copies have not beenrecovered, she said.
“I’m still upset that they were taken,” Luettger said. “I’m more shockedthat someone could actually do this.”