Parking Permit Forgery Stirs Up the SDSU Newspaper : Journalism: One staffer is fired while two others say the campus paper is covering up the story of the forgery that was done on the paper’s computers.

San Diego State University police are investigating the forging of a campus parking permit that led to the firing of a campus newspaper staff member accused in the forgery.

But another staff member, who was recently fired, and a contributing student columnist, now banned from the paper’s newsroom, say they are victims of a “massive cover-up” at the paper.

The Daily Aztec staffer who was fired is accused of using the newspaper’s computer system to produce at least one counterfeit parking permit, according to the university, police and newspaper editors.

Aztec editor Lisa Castiglione and university officials refused to release the suspected forger’s name, saying it was a personnel matter. The staffer was fired, she said, and the forgery was removed from the newspaper’s computer system.

Castiglione said there was no evidence that more than one permit was forged or that it was sold or that other Aztec staffers were involved. She also denied the Aztec was covering up the incident and said the story would be reported when the campus police complete their investigation.

However, columnist Lester Callahan said he was banned from the newsroom and reporter Michael Haynes said he was fired for trying to expose what they called a cover-up of a parking permit scam that might implicate other Aztec staffers. They also said Aztec editors concocted lies about them to justify their firings.

Castiglione denied Callahan’s and Haynes’ allegations of a cover-up and said they were “blowing the whole thing out of proportion.”

The forgery came to light in early September when university police confiscated a phony parking permit, said Lt. Steve Williams. Police find counterfeit parking permits in vehicles on campus a few times each year, he added.

Williams confirmed the forged permit was produced on the Aztec computer and that police were investigating. But he delined to say what action might be taken against the forger or any student who might have used the phony permits.

Meanwhile, the university’s communications authority discussed the situation in closed session Monday.

Journalism professor Lee Brown, chairman of the authority, also confirmed the firing of the suspected forger but released little information. He said it was a personnel matter and that the authority had no power to investigate Callahan’s and Haynes’ claims.

(The Aztec is independent of the university--faculty members do not oversee daily operations of the newspaper and students receive no academic credit--but it is accountable to the university’s Associated Students, which monitors its financial affairs and employee procedures. The communications authority monitors the Aztec but has no power over editorial content, or over hiring and firing, or selecting of the editor, which is done by the university president.)

Brown and Rick Moore, SDSU director of communications, declined comment on Callahan and Haynes other than to say they can appeal any disciplinary actions to the Associated Students.

Brown and Moore said the authority was satisfied with editor Castiglione’s firing of the suspected forger. “She behaved appropriately,” Brown said.

Callahan, a senior psychology major, and Haynes, a senior psychology and English major, said they would take their case to California State University system authorities if they are not reinstated and if the Aztec does not print their story about the forgery.

“There’s a complete lack of checks and balances (at the Aztec),” Callahan said. “I mean, who is (Castiglione) responsible to? Who knows what kind of ethical violations are going on?”

General SDSU parking permits cost $75 a semester and allow the holder to park on peripheral lots. The forged permit, however, was a special dashboard parking permit, which is free to qualified persons, and allows handicapped motorists and vendors to park in the campus’ interior.

Parking is limited at the university and, with many of its 35,000 students commuting, such permits are considered valuable.

Callahan said he was fired for insisting the Aztec print a story based on his investigation of the forgery. He said editor Castiglione covered up the incident by not reporting it to university police and student affairs.

Haynes said he was fired when he picked up Callahan’s investigation and also insisted the story run in the Aztec.

Castiglione, however, said Callahan was barred from the Aztec newsroom, in part, because he had become disruptive and that Haynes’ firing was not connected to the forged permit incident.

Haynes said Castiglione was referring to allegations that he had used his reporting job to threaten to “expose” an instructor with whom he did not get along. He said Aztec editors concocted the story as a pretext for firing him.

Callahan also said Aztec editors created a pretext for firing him by inserting “misquotes and misinformation” into one of his stories.

Callahan and Haynes said Castiglione has “intimidated” Aztec staffers into keeping quiet about the forgery. Castiglione said she only told the staff that it would be “unprofessional and inappropriate” to discuss a personnel matter.

The Aztec prints 19,000 tabloid copies on weekdays and is distributed free on and off campus.