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The Harvard Crimson: What Is to Be Done?

Of course, that's only a small part of the solution. A paper can better serve a community if it reflects it. If we are to tell the story of Harvard fairly, accurately and vividly, if we are to put out a newspaper that truly binds the community, then the staff must have the benefits and resources of diversity--diversity of race, class, geography and gender.

Diversity at 14 Plympton St. has been a popular watchword for a few years now--and there has indeed been some improvement. I believe the efforts will continue in earnest.

At the same time, The Crimson must be more visible on campus, sponsoring events and benefits, serving the public not just through its pages as a journalistic enterprise but through its actions as a non-profit corporation.

Most of all, The Crimson must be relevant. In recent years, the paper has moved a bit further away from dry, colorless stories about administrative wonks toward more interesting, colorful stories about students. Our focus, which was always centered on the College, has sharpened, not changed.

Look for this trend to continue in the following years: If The Crimson continues to foster relationships with the community, to promote diversity in its own newsroom, and if the paper is widely read, the paper will become relevant to students.

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Finally, this paper must continue to investigate the important stories that most students may not read, and it must continue to print stories students don't think belong in their newspaper.

In the past four years we've printed hundreds of stories that we know few students have read: stories about the high-paid financial mavens at Harvard Management Company, racial discrimination in the University security guard unit and a government overbilling scandal at the Medical School.

We've also printed stories about attempted suicides, sexual harassment and other sensitive topics--sometimes invading people's privacy to report them--at times offending the community. And we've written negative staff editorials about popular campus figures (Harvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter, for example), at times utterly enraging the community.

The most difficult part about telling the story of a community is that all too often, a paper must print the ugly stories, the stories concealed by secretive administrators, or hidden by the shield of privacy.

If The Crimson is to help this community function better together, though, it must do more than be a good citizen. It must do more than be relevant.

It is not the job of a newspaper, even a community newspaper, to be popular. The Crimson must have a conscience, and must always act by it.

Often, that means putting our noses where everybody else feels they don't belong, asking questions everybody feels needn't be asked, and then printing the answers everybody feels shouldn't be printed.

This paper must be more than a paper of record, though it must be always be that first. It must tell the dull but important stories that shed light on Harvard's mundane machinery. It must tell the ugly stories that reveal the community's darker nature.

At times The Crimson must entertain its readers, and it will keep on trying (though this editorial may not convince anyone of that). It is here that this paper may have the most difficulty, for good humor and good writing can be hard to find.

Hopefully, we've managed to elicit a few laughs and smiles amidst the groans over the years. Harvard students, after all, are the toughest of critics.

In my four years here, I have received positive feedback from members of the community, but more often I confront indifference, apathy or criticism.

Take, for example, the Kirkland House resident who I woke up as I delivered war extras three years ago this month. To that philosopher, who made me think then about some of these issues, I have just three parting words: I was read.

Gady A. Epstein '94 is outgoing managing editor of The Harvard Crimson.

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