The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Stealing the press

More than 4,500 copies of the Kentucky Kernel, the university's student newspaper, were stolen Nov. 13.,”

Students at the University of Kentucky faced empty bins last week when they expected to see newspapers, making them the latest campus hit by a series of newspaper thefts nationwide this semester.

More than 4,500 copies of the Kentucky Kernel, the university's student newspaper, were stolen Nov. 13.

A controversial article about two students who died during the first week of the school year is believed to be the reason behind the theft.

The article's author, Editor in Chief Megan Boehnke, said the article contained information from toxicology reports that found the students died with blood alcohol levels more than twice the legal limit.

"I called the families of the students to give them the opportunity to comment, but they asked me not to run the story," Boehnke said. "I gave one of the mothers my cell phone number, but she ended up giving it to other people who called me."

Despite numerous phone calls, Boehnke still let the story run.

"I think they felt that the article cast a bad shadow on their loved ones, (but) I feel this is an issue that needs to be talked about," Boehnke said.

Boehnke said this was the fifth year out of the last six that students had died, and the third year in a row where deaths took place during the first week of school.

"People get upset about information they don't like and do unreasonable things," said James Scotton, associate professor of journalism and chair of the Department of Journalism at Marquette.

However, opposition to the release of information is often not a legitimate reason to break the law.

"One can understand how this reflects less than positively on the students who died, but sometimes things that are most painful are the things people most need to know," said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.

Each year, the SPLC collects reports of college newspaper thefts across the country. During the 2005-'06 school year there were a total of 19 thefts reported. This academic year there have already been 12.

"We try to publicize incidents that have happened so papers will be able to prevent thefts of their own," Goodman said.

Boehnke said the Kernel will not press charges until the police investigation is finished. The paper's board will make a decision about charges after an arrest is made.

"It's against the law and it's theft, straightforward theft," Scotton said.

Whatever the motives of the thieves in question were, their original intention of preventing the story from release seems to have done the exact opposite.

"If they wanted to suppress the story, what they did backfired," Boehnke said. "Their doing this is just giving it national attention."

The SPLC encourages college newspapers that have experienced theft to report the incidents and seek punishment for the offenders, but Goodman said getting backing from their school can be difficult.

"The real determination is if campus officials take this seriously or as a prank," he said. "They either need to seek disciplinary action or criminal charges."

Newspaper thefts have occurred at Marquette as well. Copies of the Tribune were stolen in 2002, when the Tribune published a front-page article about a beating near campus with the headline "Savage beating just 2 miles from MU."

A staff member at the time saw a university employee removing newspapers from the Alumni Memorial Union. Administrators condemned the thefts and denied they were behind them, according to the SPLC Web site.

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