In 1969, some conservative Faculty members approached conservative members of The Crimson's alumni board, composed of former editors, complaining the paper was biased. "But that didn't go very far," says James M. Fallows '70, a former Crimson president, emphasizing that no members of the administration were involved.

The student demonstrations of the late 1960s brought to an end meetings between Crimson executives, the University president and the Dean of the Faculty to confer on the content of the newspaper.

Finally, in response to the strain of the antiwar years, the administration took definitive action, as Robert S. Sturgis '44, president of the 70th Guard, enumerated the results in a letter to the editors in 1979.

"The direct outcomes were the founding of the Harvard Independent, the expansion of the Harvard Gazette to its present form from a simple notice sheet, the loss of The Crimson's right to publish the University's official notice column and a succession of lean financial years for The Crimson," he wrote.

The Crimson tested out its new status, buying its own printing press in 1973 and beginning completely in-house production.

James G. Hershberg '82, assistant managing editor in 1981, took full advantage of The Crimson's growing independence. Hershberg says he wrote about "Harvard's connection to the nuclear arms race during World War II. James B. Conant ['14], the president of Harvard, played a key role in the decision to use the bomb."

The Crimson's status helped determine its self-conception.

"We thought of ourselves as entirely independent and not as a student group in terms of an organization set up primarily to provide a sense of solidarity to the campus," Barrett says.

A wary approach to University administrators continues today. "We regard the administration with a high level of suspicion, which I think is really healthy," MacMillan says.

Decherd agrees The Crimson's independence gives its writers a responsibility to remain distant from the University.

"Our feeling was that it's a separate entity, separately owned, separately incorporated, with no legal ties to the University," he says. "We were an undergraduate organization which happened to be independent. If you consider The Crimson as an independent newspaper, it's responsibility is to cover everything."

Despite occasional tensions between the paper and the University, Harvard has never gone beyond reprimanding the paper to censor its content.

Epps, in a recent interview, gave an unwritten promise he would "never censor The Crimson."

Former editors also recall a comfortable rapport with University administrators.

Ballard says he still remains moved by the conduct of then-President Nathan M. Pusey '28 toward The Crimson.