100 copies of Equitas missing
Published March 1, 2005
Roughly 100 copies of Equitas, a monthly conservative campus magazine, were stolen from the south tower of Memorial Union sometime between 7 p.m. Sunday and 11:30 a.m. Monday, former Editor in Chief Brian Johnson said.
Johnson said he dropped off copies of February's issue Sunday night and when Equitas contributing writer David Citrin walked by Monday morning, the copies were gone.
"We try to send someone around every other day to check," Johnson said. "Usually it's a steady flow of depletion and not that great of a flow."
Between 2,000 and 2,500 copies of Equitas were stolen in September.
"We worked with the school after this happened earlier in the year and they agreed to set a camera up in that hall," he said. "We're hoping to review the tapes and identify someone."
Johnson said he thinks the magazines were stolen because people disagree with the viewpoints presented in the publication.
"Some people want a monopoly on the viewpoints presented and instead of responding to what we're saying, it's easier to just steal newspapers," he said. "I really think it's just a very tiny percentage of people who would actually consider doing this. Most liberals on campus respect the idea of free speech and healthy discourse. We're hoping to work with those people who do respect that there can be a difference of opinion."
Johnson said Equitas and other political and ideological magazines on campus help combat campus apathy, and episodes such as this hurt students.
"It doesn't do anything for our campus," he said. "It's not bad for the conservative movement on campus, it's bad for sparking dialogue."
