Members of the Conservative Union at Dartmouth and staffers of Spare Rib, a student-run women's issues publication, both worked yesterday to mobilize supporters in a controversy sparked by last Thursday's edition of the journal.
Over the weekend, members of the executive board of CUaD visited four of the seven businesses that advertised in the "Sex Issue" of the publication, and the organization met last night to release a statement condemning the journal.
"We basically asked [the store managers] if they had seen the issue," said CUaD President Matthew Berry '94. "We pointed out certain things in the issue and asked, 'Is this the type of thing you want to advertise in?' Basically they were absolutely disgusted by what they were shown."
CUaD members said that of the four store managers contacted, Dartmouth Travel, Gnomon Copy and Campion's clothing store said they would no longer advertise in Spare Rib. Representatives of the fourth business, the Derby Farm flower shop, said the shop will continue to advertise in the publication.
But Jerry Mitchell, the co-owner of Dartmouth Travel, said in a letter to The Dartmouth that he intends to continue advertising in Spare Rib, and the publication's staffers say only Gnomon Copy will no longer advertise with the journal.
Courtney Murphy '95, Spare Rib's advertising manager, also visited advertisers, as planned, to distribute copies of the issue and to give them a letter written by Claire Unis '95, the editor of the publication.
"The letter basically stated that we had heard two men came around with the issue and urged advertisers to withdraw their support," Unis said. "We explained that these men did not represent the entire Dartmouth community and we urged our advertisers to read the issue and make their own decision."
Unis said that as of last night all the advertisers except Gnomon Copy had pledged to continue advertising in Spare Rib, and the publication had received significant support from students.
"If any weight can be placed on student support, we do not need to worry," Unis said. "Personally, I am kind of excited by the controversy this has sparked. I think it has sparked needed dialogue and made people think, which is what we aim to do."
In a meeting last night, CUaD issued a statement condemning the most recent issue of the publication.
The statement of principle by CUaD read, "Much of the recent issue of 'Spare Rib' was offensive, morally objectionable, and unacceptable in a civilized discussion of gender-politics."
Erika Meitner '96, the managing editor of Spare Rib, attended the CUaD meeting.
"There is a difference between having CUaD members show the issue and giving the issue to the advertisers and letting them peruse it in their own time," Meitner said.
At the meeting, Kishan Putta '96 questioned executive members of CUaD about why the organization felt it was necessary to become involved.
"The key issue here is that no one else did anything," said Vice-President Bill Hall '96. "We feel that putting out this kind of issue should have some kind of consequences for the Spare Rib. If we don't do anything we're encouraging this kind of thing to be continued."
The statement issued by CUaD called on its members to refuse to patronize businesses that continued to advertise in the publication because they "consider such financial support to be sanction of that issue's content and a direct attack on the values of CUaD."
Members of CUaD expressed their concern that Spare Rib's First Amendment rights be observed.
"Criticizing speech is by no way the same as limiting it," Grant Bosse '94 said. "The way free speech works is you speak and get criticized and if you step over the line you get shot down."
