By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
HUTCHINSON — The president of Hutchinson Community College said Monday afternoon newspapers taken from a student reporter at the school had, in fact, been distributed.
Jeff Leddy, student reporter, said he was informed that his adviser had been suspended and his classes for the last week of school had been canceled.
Leddy said he asked to be let into the journalism offices to collect personal effects. There, he saw copies of the student newspaper, the Collegian, locked in the office. He said he took copies of the paper to distribute them on campus.
He distributed about 100 of the newspapers Friday before the head of HCC security approached him and took possession of the papers.
Leddy said Monday morning he was never told why the papers were being taken and did not know what happened to the remaining papers.
Carter File, college president, said Monday afternoon the papers were given to the Student Governing Association to distribute since the journalism classes had been canceled.
File would not confirm that Alan Montgomery, the newspaper’s adviser, had been suspended, but did say the college was dealing with a personnel issue.
The incidents Friday follow tensions that have been building since December when the Collegian ran an unflattering story about school’s administration.
After the December story appeared, student journalists were charged with disciplinary actions.
Leddy said he thought the latest action was due to a story in the Friday’s edition of the paper about a work study student who was removed from a journalism lab.