It is a weird feeling to have your voice stolen.
The Communicator’s newsstands at SFCC have been victim to vandalism, tampering, and full out theft since our controversial last issue came out Mar. 8.
After the paper’s release, our former Editor in Chief Chandler Pedersen first noticed the vandalism in the form of newspapers being flipped upside down in the stands, or the display copies being removed or turned over so the cover was no longer visible.
“The papers had been turned upside down, and after reporting it, some stands had papers that were ripped, with the covers torn off,” said Pedersen.
Pedersen filed a report with campus security at the end of winter quarter.
“I thought that the person committing these acts against a college paper was very immature, and once the papers started going missing, it surprised me,” Said Pedersen. “A few of the staff members seemed shocked, while others just didn’t seem to care too much.”
Once spring quarter began, the crimes escalated. I noticed the theft the first day back from spring break. On Mar. 23, the last day before spring break I checked every news box I knew of, and I found upside down or dismantled papers inside Sn-w’ey’-mn, and the news stand inside the Falls Gateway (30) had been tampered with, the stack of papers had been stolen, and the display copy had been replaced with a poster advertising Journalism Classes.
The first day back, Apr. 2, I checked the Falls Gateway (building 30) boxes at 10:30 am, and every paper in the building, approx. 200 had been stolen. I replaced them, and came back 24 hours later.
April 3rd, at 10:30 am, and all the papers had been stolen again. This adds up to between 300 and 500 papers stolen from that building in total, a third of our printed issues.
The damaged accrued by the Communicator as a result of this theft are $324.81 I filed a report at 10:45 am on Apr. 3 with security reporting this theft, and a police report was filed shortly after.
“At first I was like “no way, Nobody would do this,” Said Cynthia Vigil, Dean of Student Services. “Frankly I was caught off guard.”
As dean of Student Services, Vigil is a resource for students and faculty alike in times of crisis. “My first concern was students’ triggers,” said Vigil. “My second concern was for employees.”
She is involved with both counselling for students, and an employee assistance program where faculty can call a helpline when in crisis, and speak to someone.
“I am sorry, sorry somebody thought it was ok to take papers,” Said Vigil. “and I would look to help them.”
The upper administration of the school responded to direct requests from the paper’s adviser Jason Nix to condemn the behavior by including a statement addressing the thefts in a weekly update by Acting President Nancy Fair-Szofran.
The email did state that “SFCC does not condone nor tolerate destructive behaviors that include vandalism or theft of college property.”
However it also claimed that the thefts were not a violation of students’ First Amendment Rights.
“I regret the characterization of the theft (which was wrong) as an attack on students’ First Amendment rights,” Said Fair Szofran in her email. “I believe this incident is a clash of values – personal value systems.”
Howeveraccordingtothelegalcase ComingUpvs.SanFranciscoCounty, 92-CV-3714,the theft of “free” newspapers can be prosecuted as a first amendment violation. However the case specifically refers to destroying papers under the authority of an institution.
The Dean of Visual and Performing Arts, Bonnie Brunt also sent out an email supporting the student journalists whose property was stolen.
“As the dean that supervises Journalism, I wanted to send a gentle reminder that no matter what our feelings about the story itself, no matter what our opinions might be about the student editorial decision in choosing the cover photo,” Said Brunt in the email. “The theft/vandalism of the papers is the theft/vandalism of student work. ”
In fact, there has been an outpouring of support for student Journalism from among the faculty, along with the criticism during this scandal.
“We want the staff to know we value their work” Said Fair-Szofran.
Several members of the faculty have also opened up to us in interviews that they have experience in student Journalism, Including Vigil.
“You all should just keep writing though,” Said Vigil. “And asking questions.”