Oracle issues stolen, police investigating security footage

Campus police are seeking two suspects caught on security camera taking 800 issues of The Oracle from the RUC.
The theft took place between 11 a.m. on March 20 and 8:30 a.m. on March 21. The papers are valued at more than $400, according to a police report.
Security cameras recorded someone taking bundles of papers from the paper distributing box located across from the book store in the RUC, according to the report.
Although single copies of The Oracle newspapers are free to the student body, taking more than one is considered theft, according to information distributed by Student Press Law Center.
“It might seem like a trivial thing to some people, but stealing the product journalism students work so hard to produce saddens us,” faculty adviser Vanessa Curry said.
The Student Press Law Center, headquartered in Washington D.C., is the only agency devoted to educating high school and collegiate journalists about their First Amendment rights.
Stealing newspapers is a form of censorship that violates the student’s First Amendment rights, according to the Student Press Law Center.
“It’s a shame there are those among us who don’t support our constitutional right. The first amendment that protects freedom of the press, also protects freedom of speech and expression. Instead of exercising their rights to object, these thieves chose to commit a criminal act,” Curry said.