Indianapolis, Ind. – The latest issue of the Butler Collegian was defaced last night on campus.
Individuals took papers from the racks across campus and drew the transgender symbol in the design, wrote “TRANSformBU” and some had “we fixed it for you.”
The article on the front page was about the university’s gender inclusive housing policy in all residence hall options, except Ross Hall.
In no way was the article’s purpose to cause any pain or harm to anyone.
We recognize – and embrace – the right to free speech. However, defacing property is not free speech; the damage done to the copies of the Collegian is financially significant. It costs about $700 to print the approximately 850 Collegians that were damaged.
The Collegian pulled the damaged issues and will redistribute the remaining clean copies on campus on Friday in hopes they will not be defaced again.
The Student Press Law Center was consulted for legal advice and guidance before taking the next steps.