"[Danilewitz] had not put in the work necessaryto secure a position on the executive board, justlike all others who did not become executives,"Schanker said.
Danilewitz said he had actually hoped for alower position than editorial chair, but concededthat "there may have been any number of reasons"why he did not receive an executive boardposition.
Danilewitz also applied in January for aregular editorial column himself, but did notreceive one.
Suleiman and Upton said they did not denyDanilewitz a column because of his religion.
They acknowledged that the percentage of Jewishcolumnists did decline, but they emphasized thatthey decreased the proportion of Jewish writers byincreasing the number of columnists. Currently,nine of 16 columnists are Jewish according toSuleiman and Upton.
The Crimson has undertaken several initiativesrecently in order to combat a perceived problem ofhomogeneity among its staff members, particularlyon the editorial pages.
"It is essential to our mission as the paper ofrecord for the Harvard community to reflect thediversity of that community," said currentPresident Matthew W. Granade '99.
Schanker said The Crimson was six days latecovering last year's elections of the BlackStudents Association because no staff membersbrought the story to the attention of the editors.He cited this as an example of the need for racialdiversity.
He also noted that "all of the presidents ofThe Crimson have been white and only five havebeen women--some people do think that's aproblem."
Danilewitz wrote in his article that TheCrimson's diversity efforts are superficial,interested only in the skin color of its writers.He said the paper still lacks politicallyconservative writers.
"I find the editorials page to be a lot lessinteresting to read these days," he told TheCrimson. "The notion of diversity is a lot ofpeople who look different but think alike.
Suleiman and Upton said they were also makingefforts to achieve diversity of opinion.
"We need to work harder on ideologicaldiversity," Suleiman said, "but we're tryinghard."
Danilewitz declined to comment on any fees hemay have been paid by Commentary. He said that hehad approached the magazine's editors with hisidea and they approved the project