The press pass Lantern photographer Alex Kotran had on him when he was arrested April 21 “is not official and is fraudulent,” according to a May 6 Ohio State police report.

The report says that police received an e-mail May 4 from Melanie Yutzy, administrative manager for the School of Communication, that said Kotran’s pass “does not match those currently issued by The Lantern.”

The report says the pass was signed by Lantern Photo Editor Zach Tuggle, and that “passes cannot be signed or issued by student staff members of The Lantern.”

In fact, the credential Tuggle signed and gave to Kotran has been used for years at The Lantern, said Tom O’Hara, the newspaper’s adviser. O’Hara said there is no language in The Lantern Handbook that says who has the authority to sign press passes.

O’Hara said that if anyone from the School of Communication had asked him or the newspaper’s editors, they could have explained why staffers are carrying different passes.

The information in the police report stems from a meeting between OSU Police and School of Communication administrators. The meeting, requested by Chief Paul Denton, took place April 27.

Carroll J. Glynn, director of the School of Communication, said in a May 13 e-mail to The Lantern: “Chief Denton was concerned that Lantern staff were not aware about how to appropriately interact with law enforcement during an emergency situation.”

The meeting was also to clarify Kotran’s status as a photographer with the paper, according to the police report. Kotran repeatedly told arresting Officer William Linton and other OSU employees that he was “with The Lantern,” according to the report.

The report states that Kotran “has no paid student appointment with the university.”

However, except for the paper’s photo editor and assistant photo editor, the paper’s 11 staff photographers do not get paid for their work.

“What’s bizarre about all this is Alex’s status with The Lantern is irrelevant. He was a student taking photographs from public property,” O’Hara said. “Alex moved when the officer told him to move. Alex may have been impolite, but that’s not justification for an arrest.”

Kotran is a staff photographer with the paper, O’Hara said. He is enrolled in a photojournalism class, was carrying a valid credential when he was arrested, and had been shooting for the paper weeks before he was arrested, O’Hara said.

“Before the cow assignment, Alex photographed 16 assignments and had six photos printed in The Lantern,” Tuggle said.

As late as May 4, the day OSU announced it would not charge Kotran, Yutzy was still looking into Kotran’s credential. In an e-mail to Denton that day, she wrote:

“We are still trying to figure this out ourselves, but attached is the Alex Kotran press pass that was signed by student Photo Editor Zach Tuggle and forwarded to Lantern advisor (sic) Tom O’Hara on April 28.”

Yutzy told The Lantern she was trying to determine why the passes looked different.

O’Hara said he could have provided the answers if anyone asked.

In her e-mail response, Glynn said she didn’t know if anyone at The Lantern had created a bogus press pass for Kotran after his arrest.

“I don’t know how the pass was created,” she said.

Glynn said the department was told by Jay Smith, a systems manager who does work for both The Lantern and the Communication School, “that he had not created any passes yet for freelance photographers or reporters for Spring Quarter.”

In fact, Smith did not create any photo passes at the point. However, as he does every quarter, Smith had made more than 40 press passes in March for the Communication 423 class. Students in the class serve as staff members for The Lantern for the quarter they are enrolled.

Glynn also noted that Tuggle had signed the pass on the line that says “adviser” and that “the name of the School (sic) on the pass is one that has not been used since 2004.”

However, The Lantern has dozens of the credentials Tuggle gave Kotran in the newsroom so editors can provide them when needed.

“Student editors should really be the only ones with the power to make that decision,” said Collin Binkley, editor-in-chief of The Lantern. “We need to be able to give our reporters proper credentials, sometimes at a moment’s notice, and these passes help us do that.”

Glynn also noted that Kotran’s pass was different than one used by student Kathy Cubert, who writes and takes photographs for the paper.

O’Hara pointed out that Cubert is enrolled in Communication 423, and that he instituted the new passes for 423 students last year. Kotran, however, is enrolled in a photojournalism class, not Communication 423.