I hope other readers in town have followed the opinion pages of The Dartmouth over the last two weeks. Ilya Feoktistov '06's op-ed ("Allahu Akbar and a Bang," Jan. 13) and the subsequent responses it has generated bring to light several important issues for us to consider as knowledgeable and critical thinkers. Respecting The D's desire to generate strong dialogue and provoke its readership with the content of its Opinion page, I fully support publishing the op-eds of Feoktistov, or Justine Simon, who responded to Feoktistov's op-ed on Jan. 18 ("The Other Side of the Story"), or any of the other members of the Dartmouth community who have contributed their say in this recent discussion over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. To silence any one of these voices would be undemocratic and unbalanced.
What I find troubling is the consistent unequal dedication of space in the Opinion pages to Feoktistov, a staff columnist, in relationship to other writers in the community. After conducting a review of The Dartmouth's Opinion page -- on average, since Jan. 2005, Feoktistov's op-eds have run 1,081 words in length, with nearly 40 percent of these op-eds running at over 1,300 words. In the 11 days since The Dartmouth's publication of "Allahu Akbar and a Bang," op-eds by other authors (excluding letters to the editor) have averaged 796 words in length -- some 286 words less than Feoktistov's. Only two out of these 23 articles ran at over 1,100 words. In short, no other writer on campus receives the same amount of legroom in The Dartmouth's Opinion section as Feoktistov.
By consistently offering Feoktistov significantly more space for his writing, I am hard-pressed to think that these statistics indicate an editorial board more willing to support the views of Feoktistov versus any other voice on campus. Instead, I am inclined to believe that The D publishes Feoktistov at such length because it suffers from a lack of choices for material to print in its Opinion section.
The opinion page of a newspaper is its most sacred space; those few absolutely essential pieces of newsprint face the task of forming a bond between a paper and its readership. The 1,300 words dedicated to a Feoktistov op-ed, which consume almost an entire page of newsprint, should be far more powerfully put to use with two or three shorter op-eds from authors of varying and diverse viewpoints. This does not signify that Feoktistov should not have a place within the pages of The D. Rather, his pen should simply receive the same kind of democratic and equal attention as any others. Assistant Opinion Editor Michael Belinsky '08 wrote in his Jan. 13 op-ed ("Demystifying the Editorial Process") that The D's Opinion pages are "only as good as those who write for it." But of course, this level of quality can only come if we, as a community, truly begin to make our voices heard to The Dartmouth editorial board.
Every evening, as The D goes to press, the hard-working editorial board should be faced with a heap of fresh ideas and opinions to choose from, so that they are faced with challenging decisions as they deliberate over what will be included in the next morning's edition. The editorial board should never have to actively search for opinions in this community.
The events from the last two weeks have proven that it is time we take back our Opinion section. Let's make this a space that welcomes the many, rather than one that rewards the few and the long-winded.