Michael Beckley '96 plastered the campus with fliers Saturday, accusing The Dartmouth Review of "tabloid journalism" for printing an article in Friday's edition alleging three student leaders committed sexual improprieties and one student leader committed plagiarism.
The article in The Review, an off-campus conservative weekly, made allegations against Jim Brennan '96, Hosea Harvey '95, James Hunter '95 and Earl Plante '94.
Brennan is the student intern in the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences and a former leader of the Conservative Union At Dartmouth. Harvey is the Class of 1995 vice president and the intern in the College President's Office.
Hunter is the head of the Afro-American Society, the intern in the Dean of the College Office and an Area Coordinator. Plante is also an AC and the co-chair of the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Organization.
Beckley said yesterday he was "disgusted with The Review's lack of journalistic ethics" and felt someone should respond.
The Review did not name any of the sources who made the allegations against the four leaders.
Review Editor in Chief E. Davis Brewer '95 defended The Review's use of unnamed sources.
"Generally in cases involving sexual assault, the names of victims are not printed," he said. "Obviously, these are sensitive cases and [the sources] did not want their names printed."
Brewer said he felt it was unfortunate that no one would go on the record. He said The Review "certainly encouraged" its sources to go on the record.
Beckley's flier says, "The point of this notice is not to respond to The Review's shameless attacks on your fellow students ... We can and should, however, hold The Review and its staff responsible."
"It is up to us to demand that our fellow students uphold standards of journalistic ethics if they wish to remain members of our community," the poster stated.
Brewer said he thought the flier was humorous and was "certainly not offended" by it.
Beckley, who said he posted about 70 fliers on Saturday, said he felt The Review recently had been moving toward "becoming a more respectable paper," but last week's article "was obviously just a calculated attempt to gain attention."
Brewer said The Review was comfortable printing the story because in each case, "it was several people who came forward and spoke to us ... it wasn't just a situation where there was one person making these allegations."
In the story, The Review alleged Brennan was involved in "numerous sexual harassment cases" in the last year. The Review said Brennan chose to drop out of the Student Assembly presidential race last term because he did not want to publicly confront these allegations.
Brennan, who was unavailable for comment last night, previously told The Dartmouth that he dropped out of the Assembly race to have more time to concentrate on his academics.
The Review's story also alleged that Harvey stalked female students at a Brown University program the summer before he matriculated at Dartmouth.
Harvey said yesterday The Review's story contains "very little factual material."
Harvey said he was at the Brown program the summer before he was a senior in high school, not the summer before he came to Dartmouth.
He said he left the program because of his grandfather's death and because of low grades in his classes.
"I had a very unpleasant overall experience," Harvey said. "When I received news of [my grandfather's] death and I received my failing grades in the classes, my family as well as Brown agreed it would probably be in my best interests to leave."
Harvey said he has never been formally charged with the allegations made by The Review.
The Review story also alleged Hunter recently faced sexual assault charges in front of the Committee on Standards that were dropped because Class of 1996 Dean and the Afro-American Society's adviser Sylvia Langford argued Hunter was "too important a role model and student leader to be found guilty."
Hunter said the story is "a complete fabrication" and he has "no idea where they get their information."
"If you read the article, you see they have absolutely no evidence," Hunter said.
The Review also mentioned Plante's plagiarism of a column originally written by Anna Quindlen in The New York Times in 1991.
Plante admitted to wrongdoing in a public apology published in The Dartmouth in November 1991.
"I am in no way trying to justify my actions because clearly what I did was wrong," Plante wrote in 1991. "I am not trying to make excuses."
Plante said last night The Review "ethically crossed the line" and he found the story very hurtful. "I said my piece about that incident in 1991 and I don't know why they want to continually rehash something that happened three-and-a-half years ago," he said.
