About 1,500 copies of the campus newspaper at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. were trashed last Tuesday, allegedly by an angry group of black students. The incident is the second in four years for the College Reporter, an independent paper at the college. But it is only one in a series of similar confiscations on campuses across the country this year that have sparked debate on the First Amendment rights of university students. A primary question in the ongoing debate is whether confiscating newspapers can be viewed as form of protest or theft. Amiee Henderson, co-editor of the Reporter, said she doubts that the act will be looked upon as a protest, as some administrators at the University viewed the confiscation of The Daily Pennsylvanian last April. "When it first happened, I immediately thought of U. Penn," she said. "[But] from what I've seen so far, they've seen it as an actual theft." A story which appeared in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal last week reported that members of the school's Black Student Union may have been responsible for removing 1,500 copies of an 1,800 copy press-run, minutes after it was distributed. Two articles that were to appear on the front page of Tuesday's Reporter told the story of a scandal involving the BSU which resulted in the group losing college funds. But no one at the College has yet come forward to admit or deny responsibility for the incident, and administrators refuse to speculate on who was involved. Writers at the Reporter also declined to comment. Franklin and Marshall Vice President for Educational Services Alice Drum is confident that the school will find and punish the students involved in the theft. "We're presently conducting an investigation, [and] we have a few leads," she said last night. And she added that the punishment could include "a wide range of penalties." In a letter written to students, Franklin and Marshall President Richard Kneedler said trashing any publication is unacceptable. "It is crucially important that views be aired, news disseminated, and error corrected," he wrote. Other administrators have pledged to not let the incident go unnoticed. "They were outraged," Henderson said last night. "I have had several administrators apologize to me directly." On Wednesday morning, Henderson and other editors of the newspaper found more than two-thirds of Tuesday's run undamaged in a campus dumpster. Later that day, Franklin and Marshall paid for a special reprinting of the rest of Tuesday's edition in an effort to prove the theft ineffective. "We wanted to make a strong statement that we believe in dialogue, that we believe that people have the right to have information," Drum said. Drum said the confiscation is particularly ironic because she recently participated in a panel on student newspapers with the University's Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta. "I feel rather strongly about this," she said. "Within our context, I consider it theft, but more importantly, I consider it an abridgement of First Amendment rights. "I find it particularly appalling on a college campus," she added. The controversy surrounding the BSU at Franklin and Marshall started in February when the group invited an alleged anti-Semite, Del Jones of Philadelphia, to speak at the College. When student reporters and various administrators, who had not received invitations for the event, were not allowed into the building, Drum recommended that the College no longer give money to the organization. Although the confiscation four years ago also involved a student group unhappy with a news article, Henderson seemed less concerned with the identity of the culprits as with the implications of the action. "I think the freedom of expression is being threatened," Henderson said. The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal contributed to this article.
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