Last October, approximately 300 copies of The Daily Northwestern were tampered with — a  fake front page was wrapped around copies of the actual Daily Northwestern newspaper in a  dozen locations on campus. This act of vandalism interfered with the rights of student journalists  to publish and distribute their work.  

The board of Students Publishing Company, the publisher of The Daily Northwestern, reported  the incident to campus police. The content of the fake front page had no bearing on this decision.  This is not an issue of speech or parody. A fake newspaper distributed on its own, apart from The  Daily Northwestern, would cause no concern. But tampering with the distribution of a student  newspaper is impermissible conduct.  

The State’s Attorney’s Office charged two individuals with theft of advertising services for  attaching the fake front page to hundreds of copies of The Daily without our consent. Any  charging decision is made by the State’s Attorney alone. As a private entity, SPC cannot bring or  drop charges.  

All individuals have a right to express their opinions on issues that matter to them. But just as  you cannot take over the airwaves of a TV station or the website of a publication, you also  cannot disrupt the distribution of a student newspaper.