FACTS OUTLINED
The facts that point to the above recommendations of the Publications Committee—originally motivating the investigation—are briefly, that The Dartmouth editorial and news columns have had in the past sporadic outbreaks of inaccuracy, bad judgment, bad taste, flippancy; that they often showed a sophomoric ignorance of editorialized subjects, that they criticized editorially merely for the sake of editorial criticism, that they failed to regard properly the interests of the College, and that they were guilty of intolerance and lack of perspective—all of which transcended and exploited the privilege of freedom for that of license.
These things brought on an investigation which in turn brought on what may be considered the extreme proposals of Alumni Trustee ownership of the stock of the paper and unqualified power to remove members from the board of the paper. Presumably the procedure would be that if any editor should again at any time be responsible for a damaging editorial or other misconduct, the College would whisper in the ear of the non-resident Alumni Trustee, and pressure would be brought to bear.
The College's general viewpoint, as far as can be ascertained, in advocating the above avenues of Trustee supervision, is a method of adjustment in case an Emergency should arise,—which could be resorted to without having to turn to the bended-Administrative-knee method of appealing to the reason of the student editor.
On the other side of the question the present editors of The Dartmouth could see that the supervisory clauses might ultimately imply that all actions and controversial editorial questions would have to receive the tacit sanction of the Alumni Trustee, with the stock-ownership and power-of-removal bludgeons held over editors' heads as Administrative conditioners. The position of the editors and "Vox Populi" group may best be designated by editorial comment in The Dartmouth. Although they agreed heartily with many of the criticisms leveled against the paper, they stressed the undesirability of the arbitrary power of the Trustee:
"We say that the Alumni Trustee proposed would be inadequate for the advisory aid which the report declares TheDartmouth editorial board needs and which The Dartmouth would welcome. And we say that the Alumni Trustee, vested with ownership rights and specifically with removal power, would be a tremendously dangerous intermediary. He would be ultimately as dangerous to the 'freedom of the responsible press' as the most extreme control that could be recommended for The Dartmouth, and his threat in the present issue is all the greater because his immediate threat seems so slight, it seems hardly worth 'clattering' about. In this sane-toned and sprightly report, the grafting of the ownership clause intothe Alumni Trustee device is like castor oil camouflaged in a glass of orange-juice and whisky.
NEW FACE ON CAMPUS Cover of the student magazine Pace whichmade its bow on October 3. The bona fide freshman model is Stanley P. Wright '42,son of Prof. W. K. Wright '23h of thePhilosophy department.
