Ohio University’s first-year student trustee released the names of Student Senate colleagues and claimed that they stole nearly 1,000 issues of The Post — without proof of the students’ involvement and without first talking to police.
Keith Wilbur, who was appointed to his position by Gov. John Kasich, told The New Political, an online news website, the names of six students Tuesday night, who he claims to stole the complementary paper from newsstands last spring.
Wilbur also claimed Jordan Ballinger, governmental affairs commissioner, organized the event. The others accused were mostly freshmen or lower-level senate commissioners.
Wilbur was campaign manager for the senate VOICE ticket when the papers were stolen from in or near Baker University Center, Alden Library, Bentley Hall and Scott Quadrangle on April 17. That day, The Post endorsed the opposing ticket, FUSS, which included students who were less involved with senate at the time.
“The real story isn’t about the six people, it’s about Jordan who orchestrated this,” Wilbur said.
Ballinger is running for next year’s senate president and denies being involved with the incident.
“I mean, really the whole story is just pointing fingers,” Ballinger said.
The VOICE ticket included current Senate President Anna Morton; previous Senate President Nick Southall who resigned in December; and former Treasurer Austin LaForest, who resigned at Wednesday’s meeting.
Wilbur also suggested previous senate executives were involved in the theft, including Amrit Saini, who was senate’s vice president at the time the papers were stolen.
“It’s just become too hierarchal in the fact that people are using their positions in their body to intimidate other members into their beliefs and opinions and this is evidence of that sort of influence — from Amrit all the way down to the senators,” Wilbur said.
Morton said she remembers Ballinger, Saini and Southall joking about stealing the papers after the endorsement was released.
“I have bigger fish to fry,” Saini said, on the current situation.
“Strong evidence” of who stole the papers led Wilbur to ask Morton to gather the six students in James Hall for a discussion last spring.
“We weren’t treated very well. It was disgusting,” said Kate Clausen, sophomore studying communication studies and vice commissioner for governmental affairs. “He was saying he would destroy our future if we said anything. We were freshmen. We were scared. He forbid us so harshly from speaking out and now he’s accusing those he yelled at.”
Morton said she believes those six weren’t involved.
“It was not their fault and they shouldn’t be pinpointed,” Morton said.
Five of six students returned a request for comment and said they didn’t steal the papers, but most admitted to joking about stealing them.
“Quite honestly, I was being verbally abused for 30 minutes and then I was threatened that if I ever said anything that my, I think it was something to the effect of, professional career at Ohio University would no longer exist,” said Gabby Bacha, a sophomore studying political science and a South Green Senator.
The Post editor-in-chief at the time the papers were stolen, Pat Holmes, filed a report with the Ohio University Police Department.
Executive editors also published an editorial in the newspaper asking for additional information.
OUPD Chief Andrew Powers said he couldn’t “confirm or deny or comment” whether Wilbur or Morton’s revelations were already part of the department’s ongoing investigation on the open larceny case.
“I don’t know how it will potentially impact the investigation,” Powers said. “These folks are certainly at liberty to make statements.”
Law enforcement agencies typically refuse to comment on open investigations until closed, which sometimes comes with “all sorts of rumors and things,” Powers said.
Morton said she would go to the police if she knew who was responsible.
The Post has a circulation of 10,000 and its revenue relies on mainly ads. It spends about $200,000 annually on printing costs, said Ryan Clark, current Post editor-in-chief.
“My concern is the possibility that people whose job it is to identify and represent the voices of students might have sought to remove the voices of students by throwing away the newspapers,” Clark said.
Ryan Lombardi, senate’s advisor and vice president for Student Affairs, said he is “disappointed” with what he has been hearing, though much of it is hearsay.
“I don’t know where the truth lies,” Lombardi said.
@mariadevito13
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