There are no winners.
Everyone at USM lost when 2,500 copies of The Free Press were taken by a few people who were upset about a couple of articles.
Advertisers lost. Students who fund half of the paper through their activity fees lost. My staff lost. And even the people who were accused of the crime lost.
The three people who were originally charged with the crime will not go to court. The DA decided not to prosecute the case.
The Portland Press Herald quoted Anthony Pergola, as saying, “I knew all along that these charges would be dropped . I did nothing wrong.”
That Pergola actually believes he didn’t do anything wrong is scary. And because the DA couldn’t prosecute, Pergola and his buddies get more affirmation that taking all the papers off the racks before anyone could look at them is OK.
That’s why they lost.
They get to go on with their lives believing there’s nothing wrong with what they did.
The DA said she couldn’t prosecute because she couldn’t prove that Pergola and his two friends weren’t really trying to buy the papers.
Forget the fact that Pergola was caught with a Jeep full of papers before he offered up any money.
“Buying” all the papers from both campuses so people can’t read them is wrong. It’s a blatant attempt to keep the public from having access to a newspaper – aka restriction of free speech.
I think we should all ask ourselves if we want someone like Pergola in a leadership position. He’s a student senator. He’s the vice president of the Interfraternity Greek Council – the group that oversees Greek life at USM. And he thinks he didn’t do anything wrong.
But Pergola and company aren’t off the hook yet. Stephen Nelson at the Office of Community Standards is currently reviewing the case to see if the University should punish the students.
President Pattenaude already issued a statement condemning the first round of thefts on Oct. 25. “A free press is critical to the maintenance of our democracy and any attempt to censor or to disrupt the constitutionally-protected free expression of ideas is antithetical to our foundation and beliefs,” he wrote.
So let’s see if Pattenaude’s administration agrees with him.
The USM community, my staff and advertisers have already lost. It’s not too late to help Pergola and his buddies. Nelson needs to send a strong message that what happened on Oct. 25 and Oct. 29 goes against everything we are supposed to value as a University and as a community.
To let that go unpunished wouldn’t do anybody any favors, including Pergola. College is about growing up and learning. Pergola obviously needs to do a little of both and Nelson can help him.