UPDATE: April 25, 9:08 p.m.
Stacks of the latest issue of The Eagle have disappeared from the stands the morning of April 25.
Newspapers are missing from the stands in the Ward Circle building, Anderson Hall, MGC, Letts Hall, the School of International Service, the library, the East Quad Building, Battelle-Tomkins Building and Hurst Building.
Stacks can still be found in McDowell Hall and Katzen Arts Center as of 4:45 p.m.
Brothers of the then-AU chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon allegedly sent out teams, including the newly, unofficially initiated brothers, to "raid" the newspaper stands before the community could see the paper, a TKE brother who requested anonymity told The Eagle. It is the same brother who made allegations that TKE brothers engaged in hazing.
The order allegedly came from the members of the TKE executive board. The brothers took the papers from the stacks and took them off campus to be thrown away, the brother said.
Brothers allegedly started removing papers at 9:30 a.m., he said.
The brother did not know if TKE members had plans for the story on the website, but he said they are calling it an invasion of privacy.
Gabe Fridkis, a brother in TKE, said he did not know about members of the fraternity removing papers from the stand.
He said he could see why people were upset, because the article said "untrue" things about the fraternity.
Jake Carias, a brother in TKE, said he believes much of the information published in the article was false and said that he warned The Eagle that the information came from unreliable sources.
Carias said in a phone conversation with The Eagle that he stole "all your f[*****g] newspapers" and that he would have fun burning them. He admitted to taking 20 or 30 copies of the paper.
At least three members of TKE, identified by their letters when approached by The Eagle, declined to comment.
An investigation by the Department of Public Safety, at the request of The Eagle, is ongoing.
Individuals with knowledge of the papers' whereabouts should contact the Department of Public Safety at 202-885-2527.
The Eagle prints 5,000 copies of its weekly edition. About 150 are accounted for and are now in The Eagle's office in Mary Graydon Center. One stack of those recovered newspapers was found by Eagle staff in a recycling bin on the first floor of the University Library's main stairwell.
The total value of the print circulation this week, including advertising revenue as well as printing and delivery costs, was valued at $4,100, according to Eagle Business Manager Jake Kelderman.
Papers are delivered to buildings on the main Quad, residence halls, Tenley campus, the Washington College of Law and a few off-campus buildings, including WAMU's office, said Adam Blech, who delivers the papers every Thursday during the academic year.
It takes Blech about an hour and half to deliver the papers around campus. He did not notice missing papers when he finished his round at Katzen Arts Center and Nebraska Hall, he said. This morning, he said he finished delivering the papers on campus at 9:30 a.m.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Blech said of his rounds. "Business as usual."
When Blech went to the library after a class he noticed that the stack of papers he delivered an hour and a half before were gone, he said.
The April 25 edition of The Eagle was the last one of the academic year and the last weekly edition of the campus newspaper, which has printed since 1925.
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