In response to calls for a supplement to the 2002 Harvard yearbook by several black and Latino student organizations omitted from the current book, the executive board of Harvard Yearbook Publications (HYP) issued a statement early this morning denying the request.

“Unfortunately, it would be impossible for us to publish a supplement as has been suggested,” read the statement issued by HYP executives. “We simply face an insurmountable logistic hurdle—most of our staff has already left for the year, and those who are still on campus will be completely occupied with producing the Class of 2006 Freshman Register.”

The request for the supplement was stated in a letter sent by 12 student groups to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 on Wednesday. The groups noted that this year’s yearbook contained a complete absence of group pictures and rosters from black and Latino student organizations.

Lewis had noted yesterday that his office would not become involved in the question of issuing a supplement to the yearbook.

“I think that is a question for the Yearbook, not the dean’s office,” Lewis wrote in an e-mail.

However, College administrators did address the group’s concerns over the omission of so many ethnic groups from the publication.

Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71 called the complete absence the 12 black and Latino ethnic student organizations “unfortunate” and pledged to exert more control over the yearbook submission process to prevent groups from being overlooked.

“For next year, my office will pay special attention to the lists of approved student groups that are sent to the yearbook,” Illingworth wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

Illingworth said he also requested a change in the procedure by which HYP chooses what organizations to include.

“I have asked the yearbook to take care to be sure that all groups which want to be there are in the yearbook,” he said.

However, HYP executives said they did not remember any requests by Illingworth to adopt such a broad inclusion policy.

“[We] do not specifically recall Dean Illingworth requesting us to include every organization in the book,” read the statement issued by HYP.

President of the Black Students Association (BSA) Charles M. Moore ’04, who had spoken to Lewis yesterday, said he is pleased that the issue of including more groups in the organizations section of the yearbook has come to the fore.

“This isn’t a racial or ethnic thing. It should be a problem of there being 250 student groups and only 30 of them are in [the yearbook],” he said.

“We’re going to be working with the yearbook staff and maybe the deans to get more groups included. We don’t want this to be confrontational.”