Golden Gate Xpress newspapers were found in a trash can near the empty newspaper stand by Room 125 in the Humanities Building on May 15, 2019. (MONSERRATH ARREOLA/Golden Gate Xpress)
Golden Gate Xpress newspapers were removed en masse from new stands across campus Tuesday and Wednesday in the wake of a news story about an open Title IX complaint against Africana Studies professor and incoming department chair Dr. Serie McDougal.
Managing Editor Monserrath Arreola estimated over 2,000 copies of this week’s issue were stolen since it was first circulated early Tuesday morning, but she said Xpress doesn’t yet know who is behind the theft.
“I’m not sure if McDougal’s working with his supporters or if people who are siding with McDougal are doing it on their own account,” Arreola said. “I think people believe that the story is smear journalism and that we are not being objective, and maybe they even believe that we’re deliberately trying to ruin a man’s life, but that’s not the way that we approached it. We just wanted the story to be told.”
Arreola said some newspapers were found tossed in nearby a trash can Tuesday, but the rest may have been disposed of off-campus.
“We also found about 300 copies in the trash from one box [Wednesday], but we were unable to find any other copies in any of the other trash cans,” she said. “Part of that may be because it seemed that today was trash day, and they may have already been taken.”
Xpress staffers Camila Ramirez-Diaz and Julian Moncaleano said they were both accused of wrongdoing as they distributed the papers Tuesday morning. Ramirez-Diaz said a woman confronted her around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday in front of the ethnic studies building.
“It was my second stop of distribution and I was taking all the old [papers] out, placing them on the bench and putting in the new ones in the box, and a girl came from behind me and she said, ‘You guys literally just published a piece that can ruin a man’s life—[and] for what?’” Ramirez-Diaz said. “I didn’t respond to her at all, I totally ignored her and put the old [newspapers] back in my cart.”
Moncaleano said he was near the gymnasium around the same time when he had a similar experience.
“This girl told me, ‘You’re ruining people’s lives,’” Moncaleano said. “I had no idea what she was talking about [at first].”
University police are investigating the theft, and anyone with information is encouraged to reach out to either UPD, at (415) 338-7200, or the Golden Gate Xpress newsroom at (415)-338-2462.
