Laura Donovan's Blog

Wildcat report on the Phi Psi hearing:

The Greek Standards Board has found the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity not responsible for the theft of 10,000 Daily Wildcat newspapers on Oct. 8, according to the board’s official final report released on Friday afternoon.

In its final report, the Greek Standards Board outlined several reasons for its decision.

Information that worked against the Daily Wildcat during judicial deliberation included incidents surrounding the Spanish homework found among a pile of thousands of the stolen newspapers on West Anklam Road on Oct. 9.

Given that Daily Wildcat employees found the stolen newspapers, the board decided the evidence did not show the fraternity was responsible for the theft.

Instead of in an official court of law where the defendant must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, Daily Wildcat representatives were only charged with the task of showing the fraternity more likely than not responsible for the theft, according to official Greek Standards Board procedures.

The final report also cites Phi Kappa Psi’s police report issued to the University of Arizona Police Department on Oct. 9, where the fraternity claims that “Phi Kappa Psi members saw individuals going through their trash can.”

4:30 p.m. update — The Dean of Students office contacted the Daily Wildcat on Friday to ask staff members if they could testify in the newspaper theft case.

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Although the fraternity said the incident occurred on the night of Oct. 8 or the morning of Oct. 9, police records show that Phi Kappa Psi members did not call the police until 3:46 p.m., well after the Daily Wildcat reported finding the homework of Phi Kappa Psi members Alex Cornell and Nick Kovaleski at the scene of the stolen newspapers.

The Greek Standards Board hearing testimony of Advertising Manager Mike Spohn was also questioned in the board’s final report.

Spohn testified that he saw three individuals loading Daily Wildcat newspapers into a tan Toyota Camry on Oct. 8 around 8 a.m.

The board’s final report noted that the vehicle associated with the theft was never officially linked to Phi Kappa Psi and that the three men were not officially identified as belonging to the fraternity.

Also noted in the report was that “only three men were ever seen taking copies of the Daily Wildcat,” a finding proven false by witnesses who saw other individuals in a black car stealing newspapers on the morning of Oct. 8, information Daily Wildcat representatives expressed to the Greek Standards Board at the official hearing held on Wednesday.

The board also stated as a reason for its ruling that “the Daily Wildcat stated that Phi Kappa Psi fraternity never denied involvement in the issue” while presenting in the final report that the fraternity did deny involvement in an interview with Fraternity and Sorority Programs on Oct. 8 and also denied involvement in a letter sent to the Greek Standards Board prior to the hearing.

Daily Wildcat representatives never claimed Phi Kappa Psi leadership denied involvement, but rather that they had never denied involvement to the Daily Wildcat, according to written transcripts of the Greek Standards Board hearing that featured both Phi Kappa Psi and Daily Wildcat leadership.

The board found the two e-mails entered into evidence as showing Phi Kappa Psi responsible for the theft as unreliable, finding that in one case, the sender’s “account could not be considered without the ability to question her in person,” the final report said.

The other e-mail sender, mathematics freshman Brennan Vincent, submitted a letter to the Greek Standards Board stating his intentions regarding his e-mail message had been misconstrued, according to the report.

“He wrote in his letter that he had implicated Phi Kappa Psi in his letter only because he didn’t believe the Daily Wildcat would print a letter where he solely stated that the reporting of the Daily Wildcat was irresponsible,” the report said.
Cross Examiniation:

Cross examination questioning of Daily Wildcat Managing Editor Shain Bergan by Phi Kappa Psi President Keith Peters:

Peters: It was stated that your director and Michael Spohn went out looking for the newspapers. Was there anybody else with them when they discovered they were missing?

Bergan: I believe it was just Mike and (Arizona Student Media Director) Mark (Woodhams) walking around. Obviously they were able to cover a lot of ground between the two of them.

Peters: OK, it was already stated by (Production Manager) Fred Smith that it takes his guys over an hour by truck, with two of them, to drive to 100 stands. What was the timeline like before they found out that all of the Wildcats were missing? Because you reported it to be around 9 a.m., and I just don’t understand how two people can walk to 100 stands around campus that it takes two men to drive over an hour.

Bergan: Well, we had other students calling in and telling us that papers were missing around stands around campus. And readers too, and readers were leaving comments online like, “Do you know you have no papers out on campus?” So, obviously it’s going to take less time for two guys to run out and check out a bunch of stands than it is for a couple of people to go out, jump out, grab a bunch of Wildcats, throw them in the car, somehow evade detection from everybody else and then drive away.

Peters: So are you saying these two guys did not actually visit all 100 stands to check for the Daily Wildcats?

Bergan: Did Mike and Mark cover all of the stands? Just on campus, or—?” I don’t know if they visited every single one of them.

Peters: So would it be possible that students actually took the Wildcat to read?

Bergan: By 9 a.m.?

Peters: By some—at least some, if not most, of those stands?

Bergan: No, that never happens. This is all very immaterial.

Peters: OK

Bergan: That would’ve had to be a fucking kickass issue, though.

Peters: So how many stands do you think they could’ve visited in that timeframe, in an hour or less than an hour?

Bergan: Are you asking me to speculate?

Peters: Yes, to the best of your ability.

Bergan: I don’t know if I can speculate. I’m not them. I didn’t see them. I got up when they sent me an e-mail around 9:00 saying that all our papers were stolen.

Peters: Sure, OK. I guess this question might not seem like it pertains to the case, but if I asked you right now if you wanted to go to Gentle Ben’s after this, and you said, “No, I don’t want to go there,” would you think that would be a correct response?

Bergan: Are you asking if I want to go to Gentle Ben’s with you?

Peters: I just need a simple yes or no.

Bergan: I’d probably ask you why you stole all my newspapers.

Peters: Would you think that that—Can I have an actual answer?

Bergan: Would I go to Gentle B—I don’t understand. I don’t understand.

Chief Justice Jimmy Grout to Bergan: Please answer the question.

Peters: Would saying, “I don’t want to go there,” referring to Gentle Bens as—would that be a proper response? Would you use that response? Would you say that is reasonable to say that?

Bergan: (Kovaleski) didn’t say “there”. He said “out there”. This is the western outskirts of Tucson where these papers were. Obviously he said “out there” because he knew where he had dumped some of them.

Peters: I’m just asking for a yes or no.

Bergan: I might say, “Yeah, I’ll go there with you.” I might not say “out there”.

Peters: OK.