Minister Criticizes CRIME Editorials

R. Jerrold Gibson '51, Acting Minister of Memorial Church, used his sermon yesterday morning to criticize the recent series of CRIMSON editorials on "The Administration," for "a spirit of bitter denunciation, which is marked more by the effort to embarrass and ridicule than to work constructively."

"The effect of what the CRIMSON has done," Gibson said,"--the bitter charges, the lack of respect, the absence of an appeal for a continuing conversation among responsible members of this community--all this leaves us much the poorer for this particular set of editorials."

Speaking to about seventy people in Appleton chapel, Gibson began by questioning the accuracy of the editorials.

"I am not in a position to claim that information in those articles is true or false," he said, "but I have been told by responsible University officials that there are many inaccuracies and distortions.... The complexity of some questions is simply ignored."

Criticizes Purpose

But the minister also criticized the CRIMSON'S purpose, claiming that "there is no desire to further...responsible conversation among members of the community." He suggested that the presentation of the editorials showed a "lack of respect for other positions."

Asked to clarify this point in an interview last night, Gibson said the CRIMSON was too one-sided in its approach and should have printed opposing views on its editorial page and in news stories.

In his sermon, the minister discussed the possible effects of the editorial series: "If the legacy of the week's effort among groups here and there is a kind of lingering suspicion about the integrity of parts of our community--a suspicion that is in the air but not based on the most careful judgment, or a weighing of the issues--then it is an unhappy day indeed."

Text From St. Paul

He took his text from St. Paul (Romans 14): "Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."

This goal, Gibson said, "is a difficult one which requires patience and understanding. By contrast, it is easy to cast seeds of suspicion and to do irreparable damage--as we well know from the whisper campaigns and invidious innuendoes of the far left and right.

"You can undo in a few days the work of generations of men," he continued. "And a community which has begun to suspect itself, where rumblings of discontent cannot be openly examined and discussed, has lost a priceless possession."

Concluding his sermon, Gibson said, "Those who wield so powerful an instrument for the destruction of respect and confidence should have their authority challenged. How has the staff of the CRIMSON earned the right to cast this doubt among us?...

"We can be thankful that the loudest voice is not always the most significant, and we can be reminded again about the ways we contribute to or undermine the relationships among men. Certainly we can correct what we know to be untrue and reserve judgment on matters where the facts are in doubt."