In Thursday's edition of The Dartmouth, an editorial cartoon was published on page six that failed to meet the newspaper's standards for respectful expression, offending many of our readers and indeed those of us who serve on the newspaper's Editorial Board.
The cartoon, BlarFlex, which has appeared regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays this term, has been discontinued. While the goal of the Opinion page is to provide a forum for a vibrant and free exchange of ideas and opinions among members of the Dartmouth community, The Dartmouth's policies clearly prohibit personal attacks or any kind of hate speech. Under The Dartmouth's editorial policies, cartoons are subject to the same rigorous editing and standards of any other article or column that appears in the newspaper, but in this case The Dartmouth failed to engage in such editing. If we had, the cartoon would never have been published. For this reason, it is not on our web site.
I have personally apologized to the student who was disrespectfully portrayed in the cartoon. I want to take this opportunity to extend an apology to anyone else in the Dartmouth community and beyond who may have been similarly offended.
The editors responsible for the production of the Opinion page have been reprimanded, and a thorough review of The Dartmouth's editing processes and editorial procedures is under way.
The publication of the cartoon was a mistake. On behalf of the newspaper's entire directorate, I accept responsibility for this error. We've heard from several of our readers; some of the responses are included below.
