VCU Police close investigation into seizure of 800 copies of The Commonwealth Times
About 800 copies of The Commonwealth Times were removed from kiosks on Feb. 26. Photo by Jon Mirador
Georgia Geen, Executive Editor
VCU Police is closing its investigation into the removal of 800 copies of The Commonwealth Times from campus kiosks on Feb. 26, following word from the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office that it would not prosecute the case.
VCU Police said in a statement that it would not release any further information about the investigation because no criminal charges are being filed, noting that the newspapers were “improperly removed.” VCU tweeted on Feb. 27 that it would also use the student conduct system to address violations.
Following the publication of a story on Feb. 26 detailing conflict and allegations of harassment within the Student Government Association, witnesses — who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from their employer – independently told The Commonwealth Times they had seen members of the Student Government Association removing entire stacks of the newspaper from a newsstand in the University Student Commons. Commonwealth Times News Editor Hannah Eason saw an SGA member and another student remove stacks from a kiosk outside the Trani Life Sciences Building.
A group of SGA senators released a statement saying they planned to introduce articles of impeachment against SGA president Breanna Harmon, who was among the people witnesses said they saw removing copies of the newspaper, then said at a March 2 meeting they would wait for the release of a police report before moving forward.
