Daily Collegian staff are still searching for answers regarding why Penn State removed their newspapers from nearly three dozen campus stands last month.

According to the Daily Collegian, the removal was triggered by political advertisements displayed on the news racks, which violated university policy. Newspaper staff were informed of the action on Sept. 18 but were not told where the stands or the print newspapers had been taken.

By that Friday, the stands were returned to their original spots, but the political ads, including ones featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and voter registration, had been removed.

Out of the 35 racks located within campus buildings, only three featured ads related to Harris, while another six had voter registration ads. The rest had no advertisements but were still removed.

Penn State spokesman Lisa Powers told the Collegian that the issue was not with the newspapers themselves, but with the use of ad space in university buildings, which violated policies AD27 and AD02, which regulate commercial sales and non-university group activities.

While Penn State claims the ads on the racks were the only issue, Collegian staff are puzzled by the removal of the newspapers as well, as university policies don't prohibit political ads inside the papers.

"It raises the question of First Amendment violations," Daily Collegian business manager Zack O'Brien told the University Herald last week, adding that they are still in talks with school officials and the administration.

According to O'Brien, the paper has previously included political ads without incident.

"I'm under the assumption that this is not our first time doing that. But we've never had a backlash this big regarding any political advertisement," he said.

Moving forward, O'Brien said the paper would be more cautious about ad placements on racks in university buildings.

"There hasn't been a formal decision made internally, but ... we are going to be a little more cautious. And that's something that we took responsibility for, because ultimately we didn't know we broke those [rules]," he said.

The Collegian has also reached out to advocacy groups to voice concerns and hopes to raise awareness among other student publications about the potential for similar situations. O'Brien also mentioned the revenue impact of losing these ads, noting that Penn State cut off the paper's funding entirely over the past two years.

Despite the challenges, O'Brien said the student newspaper staff is determined to move forward.

"Regardless of the situation, regardless of the crisis, we're not having this hurt us. We're going to continue to push forward and continue to do business as usual and do what we do best: provide accurate and factual content to our public," he said.

Topics Penn state, Politics