Harvard International Review Members Resign Over Workload

Two senior members of the Harvard International Review (HIR) have resigned in the past month, complaining of "intellectual snobbery" and unrealistic demands placed on them by top executives of the magazine.

"Basically the journal has gotten in over its head," Special Features Editor Anne W. Walker '96 said in a telephone interview yesterday.

In the past month, Walker and Features Editor Peter J. Jun '96 have resigned for separate reasons from the magazine, which specializes in international affairs and is distributed internationally.

Military and Science Editor Cameron E. Half '96 resigned as well as, for unrelated reasons, he said. Half went on to take another position within the International Relations Council (IRC), the body that runs HIR, in the Model United Nations board.

Walker and Jun are no longer affiliated with any branch of the group, however.

According to Walker, the new executive guard, which took office in October, has placed unreasonable quality and time demands upon the editors and staff as they seek to bring HIR to the level of major professional foreign policy journals.

The executive board has had difficulty in reconciling the fact that HIR is distributed to newsstands across the country, competing with many of the other top foreign policy journals, with the fact that its staff is composed of undergraduates, Walker said.

"Yes, we want to produce the best journal possible, but given that we are students and the journal is not our job, you have to face reality," Walker said.

"We're losing too many people because of the time commitment," Walker added.

Jun agreed with Walker but added that a perception of intellectual snobbery on the 18-member executive board had exacerbated the gap between the board and staff.

According to Jun, slogans such as "the managing editor is the end all and be all and the editor-in-chief is the be all and end all" caused controversy among executive board members.

Jun said that the atmosphere on the magazine in the past had been much more relaxed and less hectic.

Walker resigned in early March after some changes she had suggested were not implemented quickly enough, Jun said.

"She just couldn't handle the problems anymore," Jun said. "There's no reason for someone to put on this kind of pressure for an extracurricular activity.

But Editor in Chief Ramin Toloui-Tehrani '96 dismissed his ex-staffers' complaints.

"Basically, the misperception this year is that editorial standards have changed somehow this year," Toloui said.

Toloui said that time commitment had not been aproblem among editors in the past.

"It's definitely not the magazine that is goingin a whole new direction," Toloui said. "We seeourselves as doing the same things that [otherforeign policy journals] are doing."

Jarrett N. Blanc' 97, managing editor, agreedwith Toloui.

"We're doing very well. We continue to getsuperb authors," Blanc said. "I don't really seeany major change."

But Blanc admitted that meetings of theexecutive board in the past two weeks have beenextremely contentious as board members discussedthe future direction of the magazine.

According to one staffer, who wished to remainanonymous, the meetings have been "heated" aseditors vented anger about the magazine.

"They're trying to make their undergraduatejournal to be like the big foreign policyjournals," the staffer said.

But Blanc maintains that the meetings have been"highly professional" and conciliatory.

IRC President Edwin U blames the resignationsand complaints on typical fluctuations withinstudent organizations. "There will always bepeople joining and leaving," U said

Toloui said that time commitment had not been aproblem among editors in the past.

"It's definitely not the magazine that is goingin a whole new direction," Toloui said. "We seeourselves as doing the same things that [otherforeign policy journals] are doing."

Jarrett N. Blanc' 97, managing editor, agreedwith Toloui.

"We're doing very well. We continue to getsuperb authors," Blanc said. "I don't really seeany major change."

But Blanc admitted that meetings of theexecutive board in the past two weeks have beenextremely contentious as board members discussedthe future direction of the magazine.

According to one staffer, who wished to remainanonymous, the meetings have been "heated" aseditors vented anger about the magazine.

"They're trying to make their undergraduatejournal to be like the big foreign policyjournals," the staffer said.

But Blanc maintains that the meetings have been"highly professional" and conciliatory.

IRC President Edwin U blames the resignationsand complaints on typical fluctuations withinstudent organizations. "There will always bepeople joining and leaving," U said