This picture of stolen DPs appeared on the front page of the paper back in the Stone Age when the DP was printed solely in black and white.

Can you steal something if it’s free?

Two Rowan University students will find out soon enough. The
campus newspaperThe Whit ran a front-page story implicating students in a drug bust. Two friends of the accused, upset that the names were published, responded by allegedly
stealing 600 newspapers from the student union. The students face repercussions from the university, and the legal ramifications are currently being evaluated. In the end, the whole disruption only served as a PR stunt.

Stealing newpapers in protest is nothing new. In 2002, a Temple student stole thousands of copies of The Temple News. Unlike the Rowan paper-snatchers, the Temple student sought to cover her own criminal tracks. In an open editorial, the editors estimated a $10,000 loss for the paper.

The DP has also fallen victim to paper snatchers. In 1993, students stole almost
14,000 copies of The Daily Pennsylvanian, almost its entire press run. In a semester of heated racial conflict stemming from the infamous “water buffalo” incident and the dearth of minority DP staff writers, tensions finally erupted. Specifically, George Pavlik’s “controversial and conservative” column, which claimed lighter treatment for the campus Black Honor Society, spurred the protest. But in this case, the protesters didn’t merely take the papers, they replaced them with a statement. The posted signs explained their charge of institutional antagonism by the DP, ending with an identification of the actors as, simply, the “Black Community”.

Whether or not their method of protest was appropriate, the actions of the so-called “Black Community” were much more noble. In contrast to more recent protests, where the motivation was selfish, a productive debate came out of the ashes of the lost DP circulation. The students engaged in this act did so not to protect a reputation, but to protect the larger rights of others.

It comes down to this: stealing college newspapers is a high-visibility, high-consequence act that can censor the student press. The Rowan students need to reserve their most serious tactics for our most serious and wide-reaching issues.