Some excuses just aren't good enough
Disappointment is only the beginning of a long list of feelings I have towards security, and ultimately Fanshawe College's, explanation as to why we estimate 1,500-2,000 newspapers went unaccounted for during the week of February 19.
In the over 30 years Interrobang has been in publication for the students at Fanshawe College, not once has it been taken off the shelves in bulk, voluntary or involuntary. But ultimately, even after hearing the College's reasoning, I am left with a long list of questions that need straight answers.
Does the College realize that each week over 20 student writers, photographers, graphic designers, artists and advertising reps, not to mention the full-time staff in the FSU publications department, work extremely hard to reach deadlines? Do they realize on that particular week the Interrobang worked with Fanshawe's own International Department to promote their search for China exchange students? How can students trust security when it appears they don't have the courtesy to respect their property, because you the students, via the FSU, own the Interrobang.
After working on this paper for two years as a full-time employee and checking our boxes on a daily basis, I know the trends of our circulation. Never, not even this year's Sex Issue, has an issue disappeared that fast. The issue in question was delivered on Friday, February 16, by Tuesday, February 20, twenty of the 28 boxes around campus were completely empty. Even in G Building, where we have never found an empty box, even after a week on the shelves, was bare.
There is video evidence, which FSU employees have seen with their own eyes and security admits to happening, of a security guard taking a pile of papers out of a box and outright throwing them in the garbage. Is this evidence not conclusive enough to make anyone think that the rest of the missing papers suffered the same fate? Maybe a Police Foundations student could answer this question?
The security guard in question (who is an outsourced employee of Stinson Security Services) told his superiors that he was tired of students using The Interrobang to prop open the doors in F Building. As students, have you ever used a paper to prop open a door? Have you ever seen a door propped open by Interrobang? Wouldn't you thinking a door-propping epidemic would be called to the attention of the of the newspaper or the FSU?
Although the same guard was disciplined for his actions, he is now roaming the halls of Fanshawe College. After their actions, do you feel as though this particular guard deserves to protect students?
Fanshawe Security Manager, Ed Pimental, told our reporter, Aaron Hall, that throwing these papers in the garbage does not count as theft, because the papers are free to the public. What about the advertisers who paid money to have their ads in the February 19 issue? Or the cost of paying our staff for their time? Or even the price tag of having the paper printed? These elements of our paper are not free.
Is it just a coincidence that in over three decades of publication, the only paper to have its circulation compromised was the one that a student accused security of assault after a student protester was arrested? This is a much bigger question that I know I will never find the answer to, which is my biggest disappointment.
Still on my mind is the fact that a lot of students and staff's hard work likely ended up in the garbage that week, but I still have one question, did they at least recycle them?
If you are interested in reading what security disrespected and threw in the garbage, please click here.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
In the over 30 years Interrobang has been in publication for the students at Fanshawe College, not once has it been taken off the shelves in bulk, voluntary or involuntary. But ultimately, even after hearing the College's reasoning, I am left with a long list of questions that need straight answers.
Does the College realize that each week over 20 student writers, photographers, graphic designers, artists and advertising reps, not to mention the full-time staff in the FSU publications department, work extremely hard to reach deadlines? Do they realize on that particular week the Interrobang worked with Fanshawe's own International Department to promote their search for China exchange students? How can students trust security when it appears they don't have the courtesy to respect their property, because you the students, via the FSU, own the Interrobang.
After working on this paper for two years as a full-time employee and checking our boxes on a daily basis, I know the trends of our circulation. Never, not even this year's Sex Issue, has an issue disappeared that fast. The issue in question was delivered on Friday, February 16, by Tuesday, February 20, twenty of the 28 boxes around campus were completely empty. Even in G Building, where we have never found an empty box, even after a week on the shelves, was bare.
There is video evidence, which FSU employees have seen with their own eyes and security admits to happening, of a security guard taking a pile of papers out of a box and outright throwing them in the garbage. Is this evidence not conclusive enough to make anyone think that the rest of the missing papers suffered the same fate? Maybe a Police Foundations student could answer this question?
The security guard in question (who is an outsourced employee of Stinson Security Services) told his superiors that he was tired of students using The Interrobang to prop open the doors in F Building. As students, have you ever used a paper to prop open a door? Have you ever seen a door propped open by Interrobang? Wouldn't you thinking a door-propping epidemic would be called to the attention of the of the newspaper or the FSU?
Although the same guard was disciplined for his actions, he is now roaming the halls of Fanshawe College. After their actions, do you feel as though this particular guard deserves to protect students?
Fanshawe Security Manager, Ed Pimental, told our reporter, Aaron Hall, that throwing these papers in the garbage does not count as theft, because the papers are free to the public. What about the advertisers who paid money to have their ads in the February 19 issue? Or the cost of paying our staff for their time? Or even the price tag of having the paper printed? These elements of our paper are not free.
Is it just a coincidence that in over three decades of publication, the only paper to have its circulation compromised was the one that a student accused security of assault after a student protester was arrested? This is a much bigger question that I know I will never find the answer to, which is my biggest disappointment.
Still on my mind is the fact that a lot of students and staff's hard work likely ended up in the garbage that week, but I still have one question, did they at least recycle them?
If you are interested in reading what security disrespected and threw in the garbage, please click here.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
