By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 22, 2006

It was bad enough that after several perfect spring days, it had started raining. After all, yesterday was Odyssey Day at Catholic University, a day for showing off the campus and wooing students who had been accepted but had not yet committed.

But then came the student newspaper's large headline: "University Reacts to Three-Day District Crime Wave" -- perhaps not the impression the admissions office wanted to leave with prospective students and their parents.

Still, Kate McGovern, editor in chief of the Tower, was amazed when someone told her that the admissions office had cleared the newspaper racks outside its office.

The 21-year-old junior from New Jersey said she marched down to the admissions office and demanded that the papers be restored.

They would put back 20 now and the rest on Monday, she said she was told.

But that was not going to be good enough for McGovern. Two Catholic University students and an employee had been robbed at gunpoint on the campus during the crime wave, and she believed that people needed to know. "I want you to realize this is a lot bigger deal than you realize," McGovern recalled saying.

The admissions officer thought for a few seconds. She glanced at the closet where the papers had been stashed.

"All right," McGovern remembered her saying shortly before the official handed her a stack of about 100 papers.

Victor Nakas, a college spokesman, said that, even if the papers were removed from the one rack, there were plenty more across campus. "I kind of see it as a nonissue," he said.

Nakas also said that the college president had addressed the crime incidents in a speech that morning.

"We're not hiding the fact that we've had crime on campus," Nakas said.