However, the HYP executives said it would be unfeasible to add all of Harvard’s student groups to the book.

“If we were to include every organization at Harvard, the now 520-page book would have to be extended by over 100 pages,” the statement said. “At it’s current price of $70, HYP is selling the book at approximately two-thirds of its overall production cost. To increase the size of the book by 20 percent would therefore be financially impossible.”

Despite Illingworth’s pronouncements on future yearbook policies, it remained unclear yesterday why the 12 minority groups that signed the petition were excluded from this year’s yearbook.

Several of the omitted groups said that despite being officially recognized by the College, they were never contacted by the yearbook staff.

But in an e-mail to the offended groups sent yesterday, HYP claimed that six of the 12 groups—the Black Men’s Forum, Expressions, Fuerza Latina, the Haitian Alliance, RAZA and the Student Activities Committee of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations—were not included on the list of College-recognized organizations given to the yearbook by the dean’s office.

All six organizations, however, are in fact recognized by the College.

According to HYP’s e-mail, the yearbook staff “does not have details concerning” four of the groups—the Association of Black Harvard Women, the Caribbean Club, Kuumba and Latinas Unidas.

The HYP e-mail said the Harvard African Students Association (HASA) replied late to the yearbook’s initial e-mail after the response deadline had passed, though former HASA publicity chair Onyinye I. Iweala ’02 said the group was not contacted by HYP last fall.

Iweala said when she inadvertently found out about the procedure for submitting group pictures to the yearbook, she then contacted the yearbook staff and tried to get a picture taken, but was told this was impossible because the deadline had passed.

Macani Toungara ’02, who spearheaded the campaign to write the letter to the dean’s office, said that even if the yearbook and dean’s office were to successfully contact every recognized student group, there would still be need for reform in the way the yearbook chooses groups to include.

The yearbook currently uses a “first-come, first-serve” method of choosing groups.

“The yearbook should instead actively reach out to student organizations to submit and then choose a representative cross-section,” Toungara said. “Just taking the first 30 may be the easiest way for them, but it fails to portray the diversity and breadth of the Harvard experience.”

But the statement from HYP executives noted that their current “first-come, first-served” system in fact creates the fairest selection of groups.

“To ensure that the creation of the ‘Organizations’ section is fair, we include groups on a first-come, first-served basis: those groups that respond to our e-mail first are given space in the section,” the statement read. “This allows every organization at Harvard an equal opportunity to be included in the book.”

—Staff writer Katherine M. Dimengo can be reached at dimengo@fas.harvard.edu.