University officials have come to a decision on how to discipline men’s soccer Head Coach Shaun Green for his involvement in the trashing of student newspapers in the Student Center on May 3.

The laundry list of punishments for Green was released by the University this afternoon starting with a statement from CCSU President Jack Miller.

“We are troubled whenever one of our athletic teams at Central Connecticut State University has academic failure, since we consider academic success to be one of the most important parts of a coach’s work,” said Miller. “Further, we have built a culture of freedom of expression and freedom of the press and personally defended those freedoms even when the result is criticism of us.”

According to the press release, the University will take the following actions in response to the actions by Green:

Assistant Coach Paul Wright, who is seen in the video with Green, will not have his contract renewed after it expires in June. While you cannot see Wright with any newspapers in his hands, you can see him accompanying Green throughout the Student Center.

Green will be suspended for 60 days without pay. The statement does not say when the suspension will begin.

For the upcoming season, Green will be suspended for four games.

Green will have to make a written, formal apology to the University community, to the CCSU athletics department and the Recorder staff.

In addition, Green will have to reimburse the paper for their losses and will have a letter on his record for future personnel decisions.

“Our men’s soccer coaches, Green and Wright, have exercised poor judgment on both accounts demonstrating a lack of fitness in leadership,” said President Miller in the press release. “Make no mistake, this matter goes to the heart of our educational mission.”

The University’s Athletic Department will be penalized $100,000. The press release does not say how that sanction will be applied or where the funds will go after leaving the department.

“The behavior displayed by Coach Green is unacceptable on multiple levels,” said CCSU Athletic Director Paul Schlickmann. “It does not reflect the kind of leadership we demand of our coaches. We deeply regret his disrespect of the students who work on the Recorder.”

On May 3, Green was seen on security footage taking several full stacks of the Recorder newspaper in the Student Center on campus. The staff estimates that at least 150 copies of the publication were taken from their racks and either thrown out or taken. It is not certain whether or not Green took any papers from other stands around campus.

After campus police called Green at home on the night of the incident, he apologized to the police department and said he would not take any other copies.

According to the police report, Green said that he was unhappy with the article in that issue of the Recorder pertaining to the soccer team not being eligible for next year’s postseason because of a bad NCAA rating. According the original article, the team was disqualified for a low ‘Academic Progress Rate.’ The team was not disqualified for their GPA, but instead for its graduation success rate.

President Jack Miller concluded by saying, “I believe our response sends a clear signal that acts which contradict our educational mission will bring serious consequences.”

The Recorder will continue to look into any type of further actions they can take against Green in the coming weeks. Follow the story at centralrecorder.com

CCSU Soccer Head Coach Shaun Green formally apologized to Nicholas Proch, Editor In Chief of The Recorder, at a meeting Thursday for his role in the trashing of 150 copies of The Recorder.

“While I did accept his apology and understood that he was genuinely regretful for any actions he took, I did express that I will have to see out any type of investigation or bringing the story forward,” said Proch. “Unfortunately, despite the fact that he is sorry, it doesn’t take away the fact that he did trash our product.”

According to the incident report, Green told the CCSU police he did not like the article in the paper detailing the Soccer team’s failure to meet NCAA regulations which will leave them out of next year’s postseason.

Paul Schlickmann, CCSU’s Athletic Director, and Mark McLaughlin, Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications, were also present at the meeting. Schlickmann expressed his sympathy for Proch and the rest of the Recorder staff who was not in attendance.

Green has yet to be arrested or charged in this incident and while the investigation is closed a decision still remains to be made. At this point, the police say they don’t expect criminal charges to come forward.

“We’re looking at it as no larceny, there’s no crime because the newspapers are free,” said Lt. Edward Dercole of the CCSU police.

They did, however seek out the advice of the State’s Attorney to make sure they didn’t overlook any aspects of the case.

“I did put a call in to the prosecutor to find out, ‘is there something that we’re missing?’” said Dercole. He is hoping to hear back by the end of the day.

Proch says he’s unsure whether or not he would like to see Green arrested for his actions.

“I’d like to see what the outcome of the University’s sanctions are first before I comment on that,” said Proch.

The University has also yet to determine a disciplinary action against Green.

“It’s still being reviewed,” said McLaughlin. “There are still meetings to be held. It’s going to take as long as it takes because it’s an important matter.”

According to the Student Press Law Center’s website, in cases of newspaper theft, despite criminal charges sometimes not being applicable, because they involve issues with the first amendment, civil liability may be appropriate due to the dollar amount that can be placed on the papers that were stolen.

“I’m not sure,” Proch said when asked if would be filing a civil suit against Green.

Proch also says he isn’t out to get Green fired, but at the same time doesn’t believe the situation should be handled lightly in order to deter future occurrences like this.

“One of the things that a journalist really fights for is the freedom of speech,” said Proch. “I need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again, at least on this campus.”

University officials have not yet made a decision regarding possible punishment for CCSU Soccer Coach Shaun Green in relation to his trashing of student-produced copies of The Recorder newspaper.

“Coach Green will continue to meet with University officials to review the incident,” said Associate Vice President Mark McLaughlin. “There is no timeframe, but it is hoped the matter will be concluded by the end of this week.”

Last Thursday, Coach Green took between 150 and 200 copies of the paper. In the police report, it states that he did not like the story written about his team being ineligible from the postseason next year.

The story has gained media attention from multiple network affiliates and newspapers across the state, but little progress has been made in deciding what should happen to Green.

“We do not look at this as criminal,” said Lt. Edward Dercole, Operations Commander at the CCSU Police Department. “we understand this is very unfortunate, but the newspapers are free.”

It begs the question of what can be defined as a free entity to take and what has an inherent value; even if the reader does not pay for the product.

Adam Goldstein, Attorney Advocate for the Student Press Law Center in Virginia, says that the papers have value and this can be considered a form of larceny.

“Whatever the dollar value is of the papers,” said Goldstein. “That’s what was stolen.”

Goldstein went on to say that the papers are property of the organization and have costs associated with them.

Larceny in Connecticut is defined as, “intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner.”

“Was there intent? Yes,” said Goldstein. “He’s wrongfully depriving the student body of the newspaper they pay for. This is at least larceny in the fifth degree.”

Goldstein is referring to the media fee that each student pays as part of their tuition. This gives the newspaper, and other media organizations on campus, an operating budget to produce the paper and distribute it to the students.

The affected staff is looking at what actions it can take against Coach Green for the theft of their newspapers.

The Recorder will pursue more information on the incident and update the story throughout the coming days.

The incident last week involving CCSU Soccer Head Coach Shaun Green trashing copies of The Recorder has yet to see any sanctions issued from police or administrators alike, but, historically, what type of actions can occur as a repercussion to this type of episode?

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 wide spread.

The guilty party may be sued as newspaper theft is a violation of the first amendment. Essentially, it is a form of censorship. A high-profile case of this involved a former police Chief in San Francisco, who allegedly ordered several officers to remove 2,000 copies of the Bay Times after it criticized him on the cover. No criminal charges were filed but the former Chief, Richard Hongisto, was later sued, along with the two officers involved. The Bay Times was awarded $5,600 by a Federal District Court jury and $30,000 went to its editor and publisher due to emotional distress. The jury also said the city of San Francisco would be responsible for legal fees from both sides estimated to total $500,000.

However, criminal charges can be a result of newspaper theft despite the belief by many that the publication is free. While it’s certainly complimentary to those of the campus community, student newspapers are usually funded by some sort of student activity fee that students pay as part of his or her tuition. Newspapers are not cheap to produce. Costs include: printing, delivery, production and staff salary. Also, in cases of newspaper theft, the publication that falls victim may be required to refund advertisers because the actual papers may have not been seen. Due to these various costs, theft charges can be filed against an alleged party.

The Student Press Law Center website features a list of successful prosecutions in cases of newspaper theft. Among them include in 2003, when Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates pleaded guilty to an infraction after he stole 1,000 copies of The Daily Californian. He said he removed the papers because they endorsed his opponent in his mayoral campaign. He was eventually fined $100.

Also, three students in Kentucky pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal mischief after they removed 11,000 copies of The Kentucky Kernel. The prosecutor in the case, Margaret Kannensohn, who was a former copy editor for the paper, seemed to make it a personal mission of hers to make sure the members involved in the theft were charged. While she said there is a dollar amount that can be associated with the number of issues that were taken, theft was just not a plausible charge, instead opting to go with misconduct.

Due to the ambiguity involved in these cases some states have made specific laws prohibiting the removal or destruction of mass amounts of “free” newspapers. Title 27 of Maryland code section 245 stipulates that anyone found guilty of knowingly obtaining “unauthorized control over newspapers with the intent to prevent other individuals from reading the newspapers” can be fined no more than $500 and imprisoned no more than 60 days. In Colorado, a person is fined based on how many issues he or she removed including up to $5,000 if the number of papers exceeds 500.

Though a fairly well-known issue, newspaper theft continues to plague colleges across the nation and in some cases result in little-to-no consequences for the offender. Specifically, the incident with Green and The Recorder have yet to be brought forward to any type of action from the newspaper or the newspaper staff. An incident report was filed with the police, but prosecution has not moved forward.

For more information on the case, please go to centralrecorder.com.

CCSU Soccer Head Coach Shaun Green was seen on camera dumping stacks of the The Recorder newspaper into trash containers in the Student Center this week.

Around 150 copies of the student-run newspaper were either thrown out or ruined. Three display racks, all located in the Student Center, were emptied.

According to the police report, at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday CCSU Soccer Head Coach Shaun Green removed a stack from the stand in the Devil’s Den lounge and cafeteria. The incident was visible from the video cameras that overlook the area.

The report states that he was accompanied by Assistant Coach Paul Wright. At 1:41 p.m., Green was seen on camera by the bookstore with a stack of newspapers in his hand before exiting the building.

“The University is taking this as a serious matter,” said Associate Vice President Mark McLaughlin. “But as of right now it’s a personnel issue, so we are refraining from comment at this time.”

Coach Shaun Green was contacted by The Recorder at his home, but declined to speak about the incident this afternoon.

According to the report, CCSU Police Officer Stephanie McAllister attempted to contact Green via phone but was “unsuccessful.” She left an email asking Green to call her back at the department in regards to the case.

At 10 p.m. on Thursday, over eight hours after the incident occurred, Green called the department back and stated that he had taken the newspapers and thrown them away.

Sergeant Orlando Oliveira talked to Green. The report says, “Green stated that he did not like the article in the paper regarding the CCSU Soccer team.” Afterwards, Green apologized to Oliveira and said, “he would not take anymore.”

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 report states that the information will be forwarded to school administrators for review and that the case is now closed.

“The matter is being reviewed by the administration,” said McLaughlin. “Coach Green will be asked to come in and review the incident, as well.”

The Student Press Law Center’s website lists several potential repercussions for someone who is found to be guilty of theft of newspapers.

“Newspaper theft is censorship. And if the perpetrator is a government official — which would include any public school administrator, employee or faculty member,” says the SPLC website. “He or she has likely violated the First Amendment and can be sued under applicable civil rights laws.”

Green is considered a public employee, as he is employed by the state of Connecticut.

There have been several cases similar to the one involving Green this year which are still under investigation by campus police departments around the country.

In an email exchange with Sports Information Director and Assistant Athletics Director Thomas Pincince, the Athletics Department declined to comment on this incident at the time.

The Recorder will pursue more information on the incident and update the story throughout the coming days.

CCSU students took on the cold and took off their clothes during last Thursday’s “Undie Run,” a unique finale to a month long clothing drive for Habitat for Humanity.

The clothing drive began on February 8 and also accumulated a large portion of donations.  In addition to having drop boxes in the Student Center, Elihu Burrit Library, Kaiser and Sam May, the Habitat for Humanity also accepted house calls.

According to Michelle Ziogas, Vice President of CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity, the amount of clothing collected between the run and clothing drive was substantially was more than  she had expected.

“I didn’t actually expect as many people to get in their underwear as they did, and [with] such enthusiasm”, said Michelle Ziogas, Vice President of CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity.

Students were less than intimidated to take it off for a good cause.  Despite the cold, many of the runners had already stripped down before the race even began. Runners wore everything from three layers of clothes to merely a man thong while running.

Zach Rubin, a CCSU student, started the race in shorts and a t-shirt and ended in boxers.

“I’ve done more embarrassing things before, so, this is just one more thing on the list,” Rubin said.

Rubin saw the advertisement for the “undie run” and thought it was a better way to spend his night than playing video games.

Compared to the weather two years ago, this was a milder year.  The 2010 Undie Run was during a blizzard, and students were exposed in the snowy conditions.

Korinn Taylor, President of CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity, set up the event.  Taylor participated in The Undie Run two years ago and enjoyed it so much she decided to bring it back.

According to Taylor, many of the students she ran it with two years ago returned to this year’s event.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit Christian group with the belief that everyone deserves an affordable place to live.  The group enforces this belief by building houses for people in need, regardless of religious background or race.

Although it is a Christian group, Taylor said that the CCSU branch has no religious affiliation or requirements.  The houses are simple and energy-efficient when possible.  Their efforts expand from CCSU all the way across the globe.

The organization is currently building houses for citizens in Romania and other countries that are being  affected by severe freezing temperatures and snowstorms.  The Habitat for Humanity will be spending spring break in Florida building houses.

Members of Habitat for Humanity followed the runners closely with large garbage bags, collecting the freshly shed articles of clothing.  They even came across a pair of shoes that someone had ditched mid run.

At the end of everything, CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity described the amount of clothing received as “enough to fill an entire car.”  The clothes are to be distributed among several homeless shelters in Connecticut.

Debates in the Student Government Association meeting were enthusiastic when the House Bill 5030 and Finance Committee recommendations were brought up on the agenda, both being resolved.

Senator Chris Marcelli brought up a resolution that he wrote in opposition to House Bill 5030.

The Bill states that the regional community-technical college system, the Connecticut State University System and The University of Connecticut, shall develop a general education core of courses for which thirty academic credits shall be given by each regional community-technical college as part of its liberal arts and sciences programs and any other degree program designated as a transfer program.

A student who graduates from any such transfer program and transfers to the Connecticut State University System or The University of Connecticut shall transfer thirty academic credits toward the general education core curriculum requirements of the Connecticut State University System or The University of Connecticut.

Senator Matt Hubbard was in favor of the resolution due to the senate’s efforts in passing Bergenn’s General Education resolution as well as Marcelli’s previous resolution.

“The majority of us had in our minds that we don’t want this,” said Hubbard. “We are a senate of intelligent, able-minded leaders on campus. This is open for amendments, we can think of other ways that we can propose that can try and achieve that, but also maintain the things that we wanted a few weeks ago and bring it all together.”

Senator Jamie Canny said Marcelli’s resolution was “insane,” and that he is being inconsiderate in terms of speaking for the whole student body without asking their opinion first.

“We represent the entire student body so are we sure that what we student body feels because we are the biggest university of the four, so we are saying this entire university believes this,” said Canny. “Before we make such a big bold move we better be sure if the majority of the people will feel this way. I am not convinced we have heard from the student body; we should be talking to them before we represent them in such a big bold way.”

Senator Marcelli said he was open to compromise.

“We can do both, I have no problem doing both, this is a first step,” said Marcelli. “I am absolutely open to talk to anyone and everyone who wants to come up with another plan. I would love to see us with our own plan. We don’t have a complete and detailed plan at this moment so we can’t, but I would love to see that happen and I see no reason why this can’t happen.”

The resolution failed with a vote of nine yes votes to thirteen opposing votes with three abstentions.

Earlier in the meeting, the Student Government Association had sixteen recommendations made by the Financial Committee to vote on. Thirteen recommendations were for the allocation of money to assorted clubs on campus. The other three were to deny contingency requests.

The thirteen allocations and two contingency denial requests were passed unanimously, while FC12-070, which denied the Criminal Justice Club a contingency request, failed to pass.

CCSU’s Faculty Senate endorsed The Student Government Association’s resolution in response to the Board of Regent’s Proposal on the House Bill #5030.

Candace Barrington, an English professor and Faculty Senate President believes that this proposal gives faculty an opportunity.

“What the proposal does in essence is that there will be a core curriculum across all four institutions,” Barrington said. “It will not be measured by class, but by competencies. This core curriculum will amend department by department, major by major, and program by program to make the transition from community college to a CSU school easier. There is hope out there, we can make a change.”

According to Barrington, the systems office has created a steering committee where two provosts from the CSU schools and four academic deans from the community colleges will be charged with shepherding this proposal in response to the House Bill #5030. In parallel to that, the four CSU provosts, the four CSU senate presidents, the 4 CSU AUP presidents,  as well as the faculty advisory committee representatives and the curriculum chairs will be meeting on Wednesday to look at the house bill.

Under the Board of Regents policy, if a transfer student has 60-64 credits, equivalent to an associate’s degree, then at least 36 credits will be transferred. According to the policy, there will be a core curriculum in each undergraduate program with the goal to have students be competent in skills such as communication, quantitative and statistical reasoning, critical thinking, empirical problem solving, and personal and social responsibility.

Senator Chris Marcelli of the Student Government presented a resolution opposing the Board of Regents proposal early Feb., which President Eric Bergenn agreed to bring to the faculty senate for their support.

“I think it’s a really bad idea,” Marcelli said of the proposal at an SGA meeting in Feb. “I like the goals that they are trying to reach with it; I don’t think anyone disagrees with the goal of making it easier to transfer your credits, but to me what this proposal is going to do is limit the freedom of the individual institutions to decide on their own curriculums.”

Professor of the Communication Department, Cindy White, does not agree with the Board of Regent’s proposal for core curriculum for General Education.  White said that the four CSU schools are all different ranging from their departments as well as applications and practicalities.

“If you look across the four campuses you are looking at four different, philosophical approaches to the field of education. One of the things I hear and see from the legislation is that this proposal is all about efficiency and articulating transfer policies,” White said. “What is being lost in all of this is the content of all the programs. It seems to me that we are framing general education as something that needs to be gotten through in order to pursue what your education is presumably about. This takes the whole point out of general education.”

Mary Ann Mahony, Assistant Professor of History Coordinator said that she thinks that the proposal is a great idea in order to get communities together to try and develop different proposals for the universities. Her only concern is that she is unsure whether the Board of Regents is aware that the fall courses are already set.

“In terms of general education, many majors, especially large ones,  have specific required courses in their general education,” said Mahony. “There is a big difference between articulation, showing students what to take. Different departments have difference sizes, no amount of standardization will change it.”

Barrington said that the faculty should see it as a benefit and that they have a say on what classes are required for departments and majors.

Student Government Association Eric Bergenn was pleased that the Faculty Senate approved Marcelli’s resolution.

“I am happy with this for two reasons,” Bergenn said. “One, it definitely helps the relationship between our senate and faculty senate, which I see as a bonus; I mainly have hoped for collaboration between the two. In terms of what the resolution means to the board of regents, we are the biggest group of students and the biggest group of faculty and since were on the same page and I think that will be a great factor.”

Even though they are supposed to be advising the Faculty Senate on budget matters the merits of the University Planning and Budget Committee’s suggestions have recently been been questioned by some.

Guy Crundwell, professor of chemistry, has gone on record to say the issue of transparency in the athletics department was an unpopular subject in the UPBC. But when the Senate heard of the matter they were interested enough to invite Crundwell, Paul Schlickmann, the Athletics Director and another member of the UPBC to a future meeting to give a more in depth presentation.

However, Margaret Leake of the Learning Center and also a member of the UPBC, says the Senate’s interest is due to the lack of information they had. She explains that the UPBC had already had several meetings in which they heard all the facts and after being educated on the subject only passed one of the motions that had been proposed by Crundwell.

“We had heard Guy’s point of view and also from Paul Schlickmann,” said Leake. “So we had more knowledge perhaps than the Faculty Senate. I don’t think it’s fair to say that the Faculty Senate was more interested than the UPBC was.”

Candace Barrington, President of the Faculty Senate, offers an additional explanation. While she insists she can’t speak for the UPBC, she says the proposals may have been singling out the athletics department.

“I kind of got the sense that they felt he was targeting them,” said Barrington. “Unless there’s a sense that there have been misused funds then why target one program. I would have preferred something coming out of the UPBC that was looking at information university wide and not targeting one department.”

Another issue that some have had with the UPBC is the right of all members to vote. In the Senate administrators are present for information purposes, but they are not allowed to vote. Yet Kristine Larsen, of the UPBC and professor of physics and astronomy, likes the idea that all members have voting privileges.

“Budget is something that affects everyone and everyone should have a voice,” said Larsen. “As long as we keep thinking it’s us versus them we’re not going to succeed. I think the UPBC as much as possible works by consensus.”

Although Barrington says the Senate is in the process of making all committees “uniformed,” which would essentially deny non-faculty members of any committee the right to vote.

Leake says too much has been made of the concern that members are swayed by the presence of administrators. Despite previous claims, she says State University Organization of Administrative Faculty members do have “academic freedom” written into their contract.

“I’ve disagreed with the Provost in meetings before,” said Leake who is a SUOAF member. “I can only speak for myself but I tend to speak my mind when it needs to be spoken. It’s not because management is there that I would ever hold my tongue.”

A recent bill proposed designed to make transferring amongst Connecticut state schools easier, and a general education system drafted by the Board of Regents leaves many questions about the future of Gen Ed at  CCSU.

The bill (H.B. No. 5030) calls for the regional community-technical college system, the CSU system along with UCONN to develop a common general education core of courses by which 30 credits must be provided by community colleges and accepted by state universities.

This comes at a time when CCSU is developing its own general education system to replace the current one. Robert Wolff, chair of the General Education Ad-Hoc Committee, says it’s impossible to know if this bill will influence CCSU’s plans.

“It’s not clear that it’s going to have any effect,” said Wolff. “You never know with a legislative proposal what’s going to happen with it over time. It may become something that we have to talk about.”

However, if it is passed he says the most recent draft that committee has drawn up will more than likely fit the bill’s requirements.

The draft put together by the BOR would mandate universities to accept 60-64 credits if a student achieves an Associate’s degree, 36 of which would go towards Gen Ed, and guarantee a student “junior status.”

However, SGA President Eric Bergenn says this may be somewhat misleading.

“If a student transfers in and is considered a junior they expect to graduate in two years,” said Bergenn. “Just because you carry over 60 credits from community college that doesn’t mean it won’t take you more than that.”

Both proposals are designed to improve graduation rates. However, many are concerned that they are being rushed. It has already been added to H.B. 5030’s original language stipulating that their goal must be accomplished by July 1, 2013 as opposed to July of this year. It also now includes the need for faculty input, which was another previous worry by many.

Wolff says the Ad-Hoc Committee’s primary objective is not to improve graduation rates.

“We want to improve their education,” said Wolff. “Graduation rates should be a goal, but not the primary one. Our primary goal is to provide students with the education they need.”

Bergenn also says the legislature’s proposal is designed specifically for the BOR’s sake.

“I know this bill is set up to give them [BOR] the freedom to create a transfer and articulation policy, which I think is a little bit dangerous to the individuality of the different Gen Ed programs of the different schools,” said Bergenn.

Bergenn invited Sen. Beth Bye, chairwoman of the legislature’s Higher Education Committee, to come to campus to gain student input on the matter. He also thinks it will help educate students on the subject who may not know all that much about it.

Wolff, who is also a professor of history, says the legislature’s proposal is more realistic than one might think. He says in his department it’s very common for a transfer student to carry over 30 credits to CCSU.

“In some respects the proposal is not as significant as supposed because a lot of students coming from the community colleges transfer 30 credits,” said Wolff. “That’s probably something you can work with.”

Wolff says from listening to the committee at the public hearing for this bill on February 14, they don’t seem to care as much that a specific system is set up offering exactly the same classes at each school but rather that students don’t lose any credits in the transfer process.

“The legislatures seem very receptive to input from the campuses,” said Wolff.

He also questions the root of the problem when students “lose” credits.

“I still don’t know how much of it is lost because of poor articulation between us and the community colleges or how much because students change majors,” said Wolff. “That’s something that I think doesn’t always get looked at.”