Open Expression

"PLAYBOY'S PHOTOGRAPHER IS NOW ON CAMPUS. Playboy photographer David Chan is now interviewing students for Playboy's Women of the Ivy League pictorial. To qualify, you must be a female student 18 years of age or older, registered full- or part-time at any Ivy League college. Call now for more information and to schedule an interview."

THE CRIMSON SUNDAY night voted not to run the above ad presented to its offices by Playboy Magazine. This decision is wrong for a number of reasons.

The truth is never hurt by the increase of information. Yet by refusing to run the ad, the majority of Crimson editors have chosen to hide the issue from their readers by not showing either side.

By doing so, The Crimson underestimates the moral and intellectual capacity of its readers to decide for themselves whether recruiting women from the Ivy League is a good thing. By quashing the ad, The Crimson is afraid to let its readers make a decision based on maximum information, forcing them instead to decide on a lack of knowledge.

Crimson editors saw the ad, and decided that it wasn't "socially acceptable;" they then prevented their readers from going through the same process. The Crimson should not be protecting society from itself. That is not the job of a newspaper.

A newspaper such as The Crimson, which is devoted to providing information and increasing discussion of all issues should not be in the business of stifling any opinions, no matter how objectionable we may find them. Though we have the legal right to prevent any advertiser from buying our space, we should not necessarily do so. Whether or not we agree with Playboy and all it stands for, we support giving them the opportunity to express their views.

We should always try to encourage open expression among ourselves and with our readers, and we should not prevent our advertisers from doing the same.

By not running the ad, the majority of The Crimson has attempted to determine what is socially acceptable not only for the entire Crimson, but for all of Harvard's 6000 students. It is wrong for any group to decide what is socially acceptable, and we resent the majority's decision to define social acceptability by suppressing, rather than encouraging open expression.