The_Rambler_1977-05-13

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Volume 47
Number 15
May 13,1977
Rambler Confiscated; Fear Censorship
On March 30th Marvin
Fisher, A student Activities
employee, drove to Tobay
Printers and confiscated the
March 31st edition of the
RAMBLER. This was done at
the request of Mike Mitura
(Director of Student Activities)
and Marc Sanders (S.G.A.
President).
The reason behind this action
was that Mitura had been,
informed that an editorial had
been placed in the~RAMBLER
which wasn't typed. He felt that
if an article doesn't go through
t h e usual channels it is
questionable.
On the morning of March 31st
Debby Beitch (RAMBLER
Managing Editor) received a
phone call f r om Tobay printers
asking her if she had the papers.
She was then told that a note
was given to someone on the
night crev stating that the
papers were to be turned over
to Fisher to insure payment.
After receiving the call Debby
Beitch and Cindy Rosenthal
(RAMBLER Editor) ques-tioned
Mitura on the matter.
He stated that a meeting was
going to be held at 10 a.m. to
determine the fate of the issue.
No member of the RAMBLER
was invited to attend this
m e e t i n g . The E d i t o rs
demanded release of the papers
S.G.A. Calls For Editor's
Resignation
On Wednesday, April 20th at
a regular Wednesday night
m e e t i n g of the S t u d e nt
G o v e r n m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n a
discussion was held to f o rm a
committee to call for the
resignation of RAMBLERS
M a n a g i n g Editor, Debby
Beitch.
At that meeting an executive
session was held. That means
t h e only people who are
allowed to stay at this meeting
are the Senators, Executive
Board, secretary and Advisor.
The gallery consisting of six
Rambler members were asked
to leave. Two hours later the
gallery was readmitted and
nothing was said about what
went on during those two
hours. When Debby Beitch,
R A M B L E R S M a n a g i ng
E d i t o r q u e s t i o n s M a rc
Sanders, S.G.A. President, as
to what went on she was told
that she would be informed of
the results of the discussions in
a letter before 12 p.m. Friday.
Friday, Beitch received the
said letter. The letter called for
her resignation as Managing
Editor. The reasons for this
included: not acting as a liason
between editors, leaving out
ads and presenting false and
misleading information. It also
called for her to appeal the
decision by 12 p.m. Monday if
she wished to d o so.
On Monday morning Sanders
received Beitch's appeal. Her
appeal stated "the reasons
given for wanting me to resign
are false and unsusbstantial,
which leads me to believe that
you know little or nothing
about the RAMBLER, its
workings or its present staff."
Beitch also feels she has been
singled out of an Executive
Board of 4 people, because of
personal reasons.
F o l l o w i n g t h a t l e t t er
came a second letter supporting
Beitch, this time f r om Robert
Lawler, RAMBLER Editor.
Lawler stated "1 believe your
eight reasons were either not
applicable, untrue, or focused
on one editor when they should
have been directed to all those
w h o s e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y the
n e w s p a p e r is. I w o u l d,
therefore, submit that, should
you care to request resigna-tions,
you must request the
r e s i g n a t i o n s of all f o ur
executive board members."
Technically, S.G.A. does not
have the power to put any
RAMBLER Editor out of
office. The only group who
could d o this is the RAMBLER
staff itself. When asked of one
of the senators what actions
could be taken against Beitch
he stated the only thing that
could be done would be to cut
the RAMBLER budget thus
relieving Beitch of her position.
The drawback here is that in
the end the whole campus
community would suffer.
No actions has been taken
thus far, and if plans are being
made to d o so the RAMBLER
has not been informed of them.
but Mitura just said that Fisher
had them in his car and Mitura
didn't know where he was.
At ten o'clock the meeting was
held which Rosenthal walked
in on. Mitura, Sanders, & Dr.
S t e v e n s o n ( A s s i s t a n t Vice
President of Student Affairs)
were in attendance. Sanders
was opposed to the release of
the papers but Dr. Stevenson
tried to explain that they had
no right to hold the papers.
When the meeting ended the
papers were released.
The question which con-cerned
the RAMBLER Editors
was whether Mitura and
Sanders had the" right to
confiscate the papers and if
they have the right to censor the
paper.
Beitch stated, "If Mitura was
r e a l l y c o n c e r n e d a b o ut
protecting us by making sure
we did not write anything
liableous why was everything
done in secrecy. Even if Mitura
didn't have any time to notify
us that night like he has
claimed, why didn't he inform
us the following morning. The
whole idea of freedom of the
press is on the line here." The
R A M B L E R E d i t o r s are
worried that in the future the
S t u d e n t G o v e r n m e n t or
Mitura will again exert this
power to stop the students of
this campus from possibly
knowing something they would
rather keep a secret.
No action was taken against
Sanders or Mitura because the
paper was released. Had the
papers not been released legal
action would have been taken.
Rambler Stipends Voted
Down Three weeks ago, at a regular
Wednesday night meeting, the
Student Government Associa-tion
voted on stipends for the
executives of the fully funded
units. The only two stipends
turned down were those of the
R A M B L E R S M a n a g i ng
E d i t o r , Debby Beitch &
RAMBLERS Editor, Cindy
Rosenthal.
Stipends are given out every
year at the end of each
semester, by the S.G.A. They
: Proposed Student Lounge
in Roosevelt Hall
are specified sumt of money
given t o the leaders of the fully
funded units. The money is a
type of compensation for all the
time and work put into their
jobs, time they could have
spent at a regular part time
job. The requests are first read
at the meeting of the various
clubs and have to be approved
by the club members. After that
the senate votes on whether the
students have done their jobs
and fulfilled their responsi-bilities.
It, seems the main reason
Beitch's stipend was turned
down by the senate was because
they felt they couldn't give out a
stipend after asking her to
resign just a week before. As for
why Rosenthal did not receive
her stipend there seems to be no
visible reason. No specific
questions were asked at the
meeting about her work and
the Rambler staff approved her
stipend unanimously.
Beitch & Rosenthal feel that
they were not judged on how
much work they have put into
the paper. They feel that they
have done their j o b and that the
senators are judging them on
personal differences not their
work. Right now they are in the
p r o c e s s of r e q u e s t i n g a
reconsideration and hope to
eventually get a revote.