Raines, TBR to discuss creation of newspaper policy
By: Stacia Doss
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: News
After a disgruntled student trashed hundreds of copies of The Daily Helmsman last week, University of Memphis President Shirley Raines and other faculty members are working to create a statewide policy to hold people accountable for gathering and throwing away free newspapers.
Richard Ranta, dean of the College of Communications and Fine Arts, said U of M faculty members would work with Raines and the state to prevent future crimes.
"We've contacted the (Tennessee Board of Regents) chancellor about getting other state university presidents to gather, along with University Counsel Sheri Lipman, to see about getting some law passed or regulation through the Board of Regents," Ranta said.
University administration is also investigating whether or not Burton violated the Student Code of Conduct, he added.
Ranta said faculty and administration were "looking to make people accountable for their actions."
"We are trying to put measures in place to prevent this from happening in the future and to punish those who have destroyed public property," he said.
Jennifer Burton, art graduate assistant, told The Daily Helmsman last Thursday that she threw away all the copies of the paper she could find because they contained an article about her brother's arrest for arson and assault.
Ross Burton, also a U of M student, was charged Nov. 11 with setting fire to the rope of a flagpole at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center and then assaulting undercover police officers.
U of M student Wesley Higgins was also charged in the case.
After the newspapers were noticed to be missing, Police Services officials said that the crime could qualify as malicious mischief. But after Bruce Harber, director of campus police, consulted with the Shelby County Attorney General's office, Police Services decided a crime had not been committed because Jennifer Burton said that she had looked at each newspaper before throwing it away.
Richard Ranta, dean of the College of Communications and Fine Arts, said U of M faculty members would work with Raines and the state to prevent future crimes.
"We've contacted the (Tennessee Board of Regents) chancellor about getting other state university presidents to gather, along with University Counsel Sheri Lipman, to see about getting some law passed or regulation through the Board of Regents," Ranta said.
University administration is also investigating whether or not Burton violated the Student Code of Conduct, he added.
Ranta said faculty and administration were "looking to make people accountable for their actions."
"We are trying to put measures in place to prevent this from happening in the future and to punish those who have destroyed public property," he said.
Jennifer Burton, art graduate assistant, told The Daily Helmsman last Thursday that she threw away all the copies of the paper she could find because they contained an article about her brother's arrest for arson and assault.
Ross Burton, also a U of M student, was charged Nov. 11 with setting fire to the rope of a flagpole at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center and then assaulting undercover police officers.
U of M student Wesley Higgins was also charged in the case.
After the newspapers were noticed to be missing, Police Services officials said that the crime could qualify as malicious mischief. But after Bruce Harber, director of campus police, consulted with the Shelby County Attorney General's office, Police Services decided a crime had not been committed because Jennifer Burton said that she had looked at each newspaper before throwing it away.