Eighty per cent of La Rotonde’s post-election issues stolen from stands
Patricia Joy Crosby | the Fulcrum
Students were caught off guard on the morning of Feb. 12 when they went to pick up their weekly copy of La Rotonde and found newsstands empty.
Early that morning between approximately 7:30 and 9 a.m., two men stole approximately 2,000 out of 2,500 printed copies of La Rotonde around campus, missing only stands found in Desmarais and Tabaret.
Vincent Rioux, editor in chief for La Rotonde, stated that their staff has no idea why the papers were stolen, and that no one has come forward with valuable information as of yet.
“We still have no idea what happened; all we know is that the papers were stolen Tuesday [morning].”
La Rotonde staff members talked to campus protection and checked the cameras, but no conclusive evidence was found.
“[We] went to the protection centre at uOttawa to check the camera; we saw [the culprit] come in and take all the newspapers in the stand and put them in a sports bag and leave; he was of Asian descent with a black coat, black pants, and white running shoes,” Rioux said.
One student contacted La Rotonde on Facebook and confirmed that he saw a Caucasian male and an Asian male with a school bag removing newspapers from the stands.
While the theft is unusual, a similar incident occurred earlier this year after La Rotonde printed photos from a provocative theatre piece, inciting anger from a cast member who then removed multiple copies from the stands.
The difference between the incidents is motive. La Rotonde knew full well the intention driving the first theft. The reasoning behind the most recent episode is still unclear.
Rioux has two theories regarding the robbery of the post-election papers: “Maybe [it is] because of the elections, but I have no proof; this is just a possibility,” he said. “Or it is simply a vendetta of someone who doesn’t like the paper or our views and didn’t want to have it published.”
As no one has come forward with information yet, it is still unclear whether the incident was related to La Rotonde’s Student Federation of the University of Ottawa election coverage or if it was a disgruntled reader or prankster acting out.
If anyone has any information on the robbery, they can email La Rotonde at [email protected].
