The Crime in the Courts

Though normally found around a printing press, Crimson editors have at least twice during the past 30 years ended up in court.

In March of 1980, two Harvard undergraduates, Michael R. Giles '80 and Gerald B. Clark '80, found themselves featured in a Crimson photograph. As the picture appeared in print, the two students were behind bars, a touch which Crimson editors had doctored in the night before while designing art for a story about U.S. prisons, "The Celling of America."

From the students' and their lawyer's perspective, the suggestion was clear: Giles and Clark had at some point been imprisoned, when in fact, all they were guilty of was having a slice of pizza at Tommy's. The rest was superimposed by Crimson editors.

On Jan. 28, they brought a civil suit against The Crimson for damage to their reputation and invasion of privacy. Each demanded $240,000, the largest sum the paper has ever been sued for.

The suit was also the most public the paper has experienced, sparking unflattering press in the national media and catalyzing campus concern about The Crimson's handling of minority student issues.

The Crimson ultimately settled out of court by agreeing to cover more minority issues, recruit more black students and, for a time, capitalize the word "black" in print.

The second major suit was a decade earlier and also came with a moral: once is a mistake, twice is a crime.

Arthur H. Lubow '73 wrote an article for The Crimson's June of 1972 commencement issue titled "Tell Me, How Do I Get Tenure at Harvard."

The article explored the improprieties in Harvard's tenure process and offered this anecdote: David Landes, Coolidge professor of history and professor of economics, wanted access to an important French archive. According to the article, the father of Golet Professor of French History Patrice L.R. Higonnet gave him this access in exchange for a favor: supporting his son's bid for tenure.

The only problem: it wasn't true.

The article made several false accusations, so The Crimson removed the issue from newsstands and published a retraction.

But then in March of 1973, The Crimson submitted the article for the Dana Reed prize, which it won. Submitting the article from a legal perspective constituted republishing it. Later that year, Landes and Higonnet filed suit.

The case was ultimately settled out of court and The Crimson ran a front-page apology for the error.

These experiences have taught: every word--and every picture--counts.