Shaun Green, head coach of the men's soccer team at Central Connecticut State University, stole and trashed roughly 150 copies of The Recorder student newspaper late last week in response to an article he didn't like. He subsequently apologized to campus security, but not to Recorder staff.
He was captured on camera grabbing stacks of papers from three student center racks, assistant coach Paul Wright by his side. A related police report confirmed, "Green stated that he did not like the article in the paper regarding the CCSU soccer team."
According to the paper, "The article he was referring to was in regard to the soccer team's disqualification from next year's postseason due to NCAA academic sanctions."
The Recorder's outgoing editor-in-chief: "I was shocked that it was any type of administrator. I was thinking of who it could be and I just couldn't put my thumb on it. The soccer story that we ran was very similar to the press release. It wasn't like we broke any news that they didn't want anyone to know about. They already released it. ... We aren't sure what we are going to do right now. To me, as the editor and someone who works really hard, it's a really big slap in the face."
CCSU administrators are apparently conducting an in-house investigation into Green's action. Recorder editors are also deciding if they want to further pursue the matter with outside law enforcement or legal assistance.
In an article posted online yesterday, Recorder reporter Justin Muszynski described student newspaper theft as "a growing problem around the country." As he wrote, "Each year, college publications around the country fall victim to newspaper theft. It's not uncommon and, most of the time, is conducted by a person or organization with a vendetta against the publication due to a current or previous article that was written. It wasn't until the 1990's when this phenomenon became widespread."