Daniel J. Flynn

    Six thousand copies of a student newspaper at the University of Missouri were stolen just a few weeks into the fall semester. The school’s administration, as well as the faculty within the Columbia, Missouri campus’ prestigious journalism department, have released no public statements condemning the heist.  

    “It’s really sickening and really disappointing,” remarked Paul Wilson, university news editor for The Maneater, a weekly student paper on campus. “No one is really conducting an investigation,” observed Wilson, who also co-authored the article that ignited the controversy.
Wilson explained that the campus police have been informed, but aren’t really doing anything to expedite the apprehension of the thieves. He also noted that University administrators—whom he concedes have no obligation to speak out on the thefts of the independent paper—have not paid much attention to the assault on their freedom of speech, either.  

    In the early morning hours of September 7, two men were seen outside of The Maneater’s office taking whole stacks of newspapers. When staff members of the student publication began to investigate, they found that their newspapers were missing from distribution points all around campus. Wilson and others at the publication have their suspicions about who stole the papers but have kept their thoughts from the public.  

    The financial loss in printing costs to the student publication totaled $1,500.

    An in-depth, investigative article on a missing UM student leader is suspected to be what sparked the thieves into action. Although the piece was neutral in its tone, it exposed much information that had been kept secret in the past. The report revealed that Damon Rucker White, the former president of the school’s Legion of Black Collegians and the campus’ Iota Phi Theta fraternity, was HIV-positive and a homosexual.

    The article also put forward a theory, championed by White’s family, which connected a former boyfriend to White’s disappearance. The boyfriend had accused White of infecting him with the virus that causes AIDS, the theory posits, and allegedly sought revenge. The police do not share the White family’s theory.

    The former student leader has not been seen in more than six months. 
Although Wilson knew the article he co-authored would be controversial, he was surprised at the angry reaction to it. 

    School spokesman Maurice Manning said that although the school has not issued an official statement, it does condemn the thefts. “Rather than empty rattling, it would be better to find out who did it,” Manning remarked, explaining why the school’s administration has not publicly denounced the thieves’ actions.

    Manning pointed out that newspaper thefts are an unusual occurrence at the University of Missouri’s flagship campus. 

    The press run of The Maneater is 12,000, with the newspaper bandits making off with about half of the entire printing. Although the first copy of each paper is free, the publication makes it clear on the top of its front page that each additional copy is 25 cents. Such a tactic closes any loophole newspaper thieves might fall back on to claim that since the papers are free, anyone is free to destroy them. 

    “It’s a form of censorship,” Wilson observed. “It’s really sickening that this could happen at one of the top journalism schools in the country. It is disturbing that at a college—a place of enlightenment—this could occur.”