Dreamstime

By Samieh Shalash of the Daily Press

Christopher Newport University’s president condemned the behavior of staffers who hid stacks of the student newspaper April 4 because of a headline about a campus meth lab.

In an email to students, faculty and staff Tuesday, Paul Trible said CNU employees took their own initiative to pull The Captain’s Log from racks ahead of campus tours for prospective students.

The Daily Press reported the incident Tuesday, including the Student Press Law Center’s comment that Trible should condemn it because it suppressed free speech.

Trible’s email said he “expressly condemns” the behavior of those involved in hauling away the newspaper from stands at popular tour stops on campus.

“This action was taken by young employees who love CNU and were concerned that a newspaper article would create a bad impression for visiting prospective students,” Trible said.

He called the behavior inappropriate, and said those involved will be disciplined – but that CNU will not comment again on the personnel issue.

Trible noted that when a senior employee was told about the incident, he ordered that the newspapers be found and put back on stands immediately.

“The Captain’s Log is free to write anything it pleases and CNU fully respects the freedom of the press,” Trible said in the email.

Emily Cole, editor of The Captain’s Log, said she’s glad that Trible acknowledged what happened but is disappointed that no specific person will admit fault for the incident.

Cole said she was told by a University Fellow last week that he was ordered by “the administration” to hide the newspapers, but not who issued the order. Fellows are recent graduates hired to work at CNU.

The dean of students said Monday that the culprit was a “junior staff member” but shared no other details.

Cole said she doesn’t believe University Fellows would act on their own initiative to remove papers, and would like to know who was in charge.

“I wouldn’t want someone with severely damaged ethical principles working for my university,” she added.

“This incident by ‘young employees’ has done more damage than the meth lab story ever would have in the first place.”

Copyright © 2012, Newport News, Va., Daily Press
Read the story at:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/newport-news/dp-nws-cnu-newspaper-folo-20120410,0,141555.story

Reprinted with permission from April 10, 2012.

By: Contributing Author

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