Last night's panel discussion on "Free Speech & Responsible Journalism in the Academic Community" focused on the David Horowitz and "Invasian" controversies-and on The Crimson-as participants examined issues of media access, minority representation, protest and censorship.

David Horowitz drew national attention when he attempted to take out an advertisement, titled "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea-and Racist Too," in student papers at campuses around the country last month. Student papers at Brown and UC Berkeley, which accepted the advertisement, were met the following day with protests, calls for resignations and vandalism to their distribution system.

When approached by Horowitz, The Crimson along with 34 other undergraduate newspapers declined to publish the advertisement, although The Crimson later published the ad as a graphic accompanying an article. 14 papers ran the advertisement. Both decisions were met with debate and controversy.

Locally, an opinion piece about Harvard's Asian community by Juice Fong '03, titled "The Invasian," and printed last month in Fifteen Minutes, The Crimson's weekend magazine, caused a protest on the newspaper's front steps, and The Crimson eventually apologized for printing the piece.

Yesterday's panel was comprised of Professors Michael J. Sandel and Pedro Noguera, New York Times columnist J. Anthony Lewis `48, and representatives of the Black Students Association, Vietnamese Students Association, Chinese Students Association (CSA), The Salient and The Crimson.

"Let's begin by asking the students to set the tone for us," began moderator S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

Horowitz, Fong and The Crimson were fresh on the students' minds.

"The first thing I thought about when I read the title of the panel was the 'free speech' part," said Matthew MacInnis `01, president of The Crimson. "Whether there's equal opportunity for voices on the right and left to express themselves on campus."