Indy Launched After '69 Protest

In May of 1969, several Harvard students met in the Winthrop House dining hall to discuss what they thought was a lack of open debate in the campus press.

That fall, they printed the first issue of The Harvard Independent.

These students were frustrated with The Crimson's monopoly on campus news and opinion, and they worked all spring and summer to launch the new publication.

Morris Abram '71, one of the undergraduates instrumental in organizing The Independent, says the paper's purpose was not to challenge The Crimson, but to give new life to the campus press.

The Crimson in 1969 was very good in many respects," he says. "The impetus [for founding the Independent] was to try to breathe some air into the system and to invigorate a spirit of debate."

During the campus unrest of the spring of 1969, The Crimson devoted much of its coverage to the activities of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), one of the more radical groups involved in the protests.

In addition, editorials such as the one entitled "The Corporation Must Go," telegraphed the paper's sympathy towards the activists who stormed University Hall.

But the new editors of The Independent were politically moderate, and less sure of the protesters' actions.

J. Mark Shields '70, the paper's first publisher, says he felt the activists' anger was misdirected.

"Harvard with all of its warts is really a haven for free speech and inquiry and challenging the status quo," he says.

Some editors of The Crimson with similar views defected to the Independent. In fact, Richard D. Paisner '70, the Indy's first managing editor, was an editor of The Crimson.

Shields says The Independent sought to bring its readers a more diverse range of perspectives. One of the paper's regular features was a section titled "Counterpoint," which always included three different opinions on a given issue.

The new paper struggled during its first few months.

According to Abram, the Indy at first only had enough money to print three issues, and contributions from faculty and alums became crucial to its future.

But after beating the streets of Harvard Square for business, the new publication eventually secured a steady advertising base.

"Everyone said that there was not enough advertising in the community for two papers," Abram says, "and we proved them wrong."

But Abram also recalls that fundraising was often a difficult task.

One Harvard Law School alumnus spit his food across the table after the Indy asked him for a $200 donation, Abram says.

Today, The Independent's operating costs are covered entirely by advertising revenue, according to its president, Ellie Grossman '95.

Grossman says The Independent is still important to fostering campus debate.

"We fill a different niche than The Crimson," she says. "For people who don't subscribe to The Crimson, the Indy can be their only source of news."

But although the Independent is now a weekly fixture at Harvard, its founders never dreamed it would last this long.

Says Abram: "No one would have considered the idea that the Independent would be around in 25 years."