The Oxford American magazine employees were locked out of their offices at Old Main at the University of Central Arkansas at 5:29 p.m. Wednesday night at the request of publisher Warwick Sabin.

"Things happened quickly and unexpectedly," Sabin said Friday.

Sabin was not at UCA when the offices were closed, but he made the phone call to UCA police.

According to a dispatch record, founder and editor Marc Smirnoff and Carol Ann Fitzgerald, managing editor and art editor, are part of an internal investigation.

Reached by phone Friday, Sabin said the office is closed but all employees and interns are working either from at home or going to the Little Rock office, which remains open.

"Because this is a personnel matter, there is very little that can be said at this time," Sabin said.

Police are not involved in the investigation, which is being done by the magazine's attorneys, he said. The magazine recently finished a financial audit showing the magazine is in good standing, but the audit is not related to the investigation, Sabin said.

The closing of the UCA office affected three full-time employees and five interns. The office will be closed throughout the investigation, but Sabin said he hoped to reopen as soon as possible.

"Nobody knows what is going to happen," Sabin said. "Everybody is proceeding as best we can."

UCA is not involved in the investigation and is not impacted by the closing, spokeswoman Venita Jenkins said. University police were only charged with securing the doors and clearing the offices and the physical plant changed the locks because the building belongs to UCA, said Arch Jones, organizational and community services director at UCA.

A report filed in the dispatch log said, in full:

"Oxford American employees are under an internal investigation Marc Smirnoff and Carol Ann Fitzgerald regarding inappropriate conduct...they were informed today [Wednesday] to meet with attorneys in Little Rock tomorrow [Thursday] Mr. Smirnoff was very upset and agitated and Mr. Sabin notified our department to assist in clearing the building....KIMMY MANNING from UCA Physical Plant was notified to come and change the locks on the doors ROOMS 106 / 107 / 108 HAVE BEEN CLEARED, STANDING BY FOR PHYSICAL PLANT. CAROL WAS LEAVING ROOM 107 UPON THE OFFICERS ARRIVAL / THEY ADVISED HER THAT THEY WERE THERE TO SECURE THE DOORS AND SHE LEFT SHORTLY AFTERWARD"

Sabin would not comment on whether there was a meeting with attorneys Thursday. He repeatedly said he could say little because of the investigation.

The Oxford American is a national magazine dedicated to Southern writing that documents "the complexity and vitality of the American South," according to its website. It began publication in Oxford, Miss., in 1992, moved to Arkansas around 2001 and then moved to UCA and became a nonprofit in 2004.

The next edition is set to come out Sept. 1.