NEW YORK — Copies of the student newspaper at The College at Brockport went missing after the paper ran a controversial cover picturing a student that was killed over the weekend.
Following Brockport student Alexandra Kogut’s death Saturday, The Stylus devoted its front page today to a timeline that used Facebook pictures and statuses to detail Kogut’s relationship with her boyfriend Clayton Whittemore, who has been arrested in connection with her death.
The timeline ends with Whittemore’s mug shot and upset many people, Stylus editor-in-chief Cassie Negley said.
Kogut was found dead in her dormitory room Saturday morning by campus police after her mother asked police to check on her. Whittemore was arrested 100 miles east of the campus at a Thruway rest stop an hour later and has been charged with second-degree murder.
Around 2 p.m. today, advertising manager Brandon Wood learned that between 400 and 450 copies of The Stylus had disappeared from the Student Union. Negley said she’s heard reports that students were seen taking the issues.
The paper recovered about 50 copies that were found in a dorm hallway.
“People are very upset about it,” Negley said. “There’s been some tweets, some Facebook messages, some e-mails to people in our office, and we understand why. But we do feel that we reported the news.”
The Stylus prints between 3,000 and 3,500 copies weekly, Negley said. The first copy is free, but additional copies cost 25 cents.
The paper does not plan to reprint the paper to replace the stolen copies. Negley said that they are considering moving papers from off-campus locations to fill the racks at the Student Union.
Negley reported the theft to police, and said she was told to investigate it herself first.
This is the 20th newspaper theft of 2012.
Newspapers were stolen from a rack in the Student Union. Photo courtesy of Cassie Negley.
By Jordan Bradley, SPLC staff writer. Contact Bradley by email or at (703) 807-1904 ext. 124.