Kaufman Inaccurate, Too Light-Hearted

Joshua A. Kaufman's editorial piece on April 13 regarding Currier House ("Crime on Campus") was inappropriately light-hearted and, more importantly, inaccurate.

The first of the many mistakes made in this relatively short article was the misidentification of one of the arrested students as the current and sole social chair of our house committee. With relative ease, Mr. Kaufman would have been able to find that the current social chairs of the committee are indeed Francesca Bosco '98, Susan Chen '98 and Elizabeth Montgomery '97, none of whom are the individual Mr. Kaufman named.

The second factual error which appeared was the mislabeling of the position that that individual once held. The House Committee does not maintain a separate "social committee" as stated in the piece; it appoints several members (rather than the single social chair implied by Mr. Kaufman) to organize events planned by the house committee as a whole.

The third, and greatest, inaccuracy was the implication that there was some connection between the events which led to the arrests and the activities of the Currier House Committee. This misrepresentation was not only out of line, but also entirely unfounded, and it demonstrates an ignorance of our organization as well as an insensitivity to the people affected by the piece.

Simply because Mr. Kaufman's piece appeared in Dartboard (a forum reserved for "views, commentary, and sometimes comedy") does not excuse the light-hearted tone which he applied to what is a very serious situation both for our house and for the individuals involved. While we understand that the intent of the piece was to be humorous, such levity is inappropriate in dealing with an issue of this nature. Furthermore, the factual errors and the unfounded accusations that the piece contained are inexcusable even by the most basic of journalistic standards. In the future, we hope that not only will pieces of this kind be more accurate, but also that their authors will more carefully consider the implications of tackling issues of such gravity. --Currier House Committee:   Jocelyn Kiley '97, President   Eva E. Zanzerkia '97, Treasurer   Nathan Herrmann '98, Vice President   Francesca Bosco '98, Co-Social Chair   Susan A. Chen '98, Co-Social Chair