Acorn

Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Kelsi Bitgood

T he Daily Record reported it. The arrest and trial is public at the Morris County Prosecutor's office. The article was less than a quarter of a page long.

And yet, The Acorn was robbed of more than $936 for doing its job. Such an action is not only criminal, it's censorship. The 2,400 stolen Acorns belong to the campus community-the students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni. Exactly 100 families subscribe to The Acorn.

What happened is uncommon at Drew University. Students here usually extol free speech and freedom of the press. They are intelligent and creative as well-students know how to voice their concerns and utilize avenues of change without committing crimes. We are lucky to have an administration with open ears. We have Public Safety officers who are willing to work appropriately with students. And The Acorn implores the student body to constructively criticize our paper.

We chose not to press charges and get the Madison Police involved so that, by some chance, the criminals might come to their senses and return the papers to their rightful owner-the student body.

Fortunately, some papers were returned, but many still remain missing. As a volunteer staff almost completely funded by its own hard work, The Acorn depends upon subscriptions and advertising for the continuation of publication. A loss of $936, more than 50 hours of work from a staff of over 25 people and a cost of $590 to reorder hits hard.

The Acorn covers the news without bias and, dare we say it, consideration of feelings. We wrote about Kaitlin Petersen's arrest because that is our job. We reported on the date of her deposition because that is our job. We don't expect any less of ourselves, so why should you?

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