At the beginning of the semester, I promised our readership that the Daily would act as a facilitator of public discourse and dialogue, and so far, I think we have lived up to that promise.
To do so, we've reported on the most interesting and pertinent people, events and trends affecting the Tufts community.
You, in turn, have more than fulfilled your roles as conscientious readers; the Daily's inbox is always brimming with your thoughts, opinions and comments, and it makes us proud to know that you're engaging with and thinking intelligently about what we print.
This week, in an effort to bring more diverse and interesting perspectives to our paper, the Daily Editorial Board sifted through 37 applications from members of the student body and elected 12 people to contribute weekly columns to the Daily for the rest of the semester, rounding out our Features, Arts and Sports sections with their own provocative insights, witty commentary and distinctive views.
In Sports, Danny Joseph, Will Herberich, Ross Marrinson and Evans Clinchy combine to opine on the stats, athletes, races and off-the-field issues making headlines.
Mike Adams, Billy DeGregorio, Winston Berkman and Charlotte Bourdillon act as cultural commentators, examining trends in pop culture and local gastronomy with a skilled critic's eye and a good dose of wit.
And the five-man rotation of Charlotte Steinway, Kate Peck, Lara Levi, Devin Toohey and Mike Sherry in Features will provide you with their intriguing insights on topics as diverse as negotiating campus life, eating right (and well), sex, life across the pond and politics.
Hopefully, these new voices will offer you more fodder for discussion, reflection and debate.
One of our columnists has already sparked such debate with her very first installment. Lara Levi, the Daily's newly elected resident sex columnist, began her "Just the Tip" weekly column this past Tuesday with an entry entitled, "Talent Shows," a how-to guide on oral sex.
Since its publication, "Just the Tip" has drawn vehement criticism from readers on and off campus, and the Daily's and Ms. Levi's inboxes have been inundated with messages decrying the column for its supposedly inappropriate themes, vulgar language and sexist messages.
To these active and attentive readers, we applaud you for your participation in the free exchange of ideas at this paper, and we encourage you to keep writing, especially if you do it in a respectful manner devoid of personal attacks on Ms. Levi.
For its part, the Daily supports Ms. Levi's writing style, as frank discussions of sex and sexuality are both a necessity and a tradition in the history of college press. Most other major university newspapers feature a sex column, and the Tufts Daily is certainly no exception, having hosted the likes of famed sex writer Amber Madison.
Since Ms. Madison's graduation, however, the Daily has received a steady stream of complaints that the columnists who stepped up to fill her shoes were far too prudish in their discussions of sex. With your comments in mind, a majority of the Daily Editorial Board members who participated in column elections last weekend were in favor of inviting Ms. Levi to express herself in our paper.
We also feel compelled to articulate the difference between a column and an article at this time. Although columns are part of this paper, columnists are not necessarily a part of the Daily staff. Columnists must adhere to basic journalistic standards such as those prohibiting libel, but they are by no means expected to be impartial reporters in the same way that our staff writers are. Columns are there to do exactly what our writers, in their unbiased reporting, cannot: judge, provoke and opine. Therefore, while they may not reflect the opinions of the Daily Editorial Board, Daily columnists are encouraged to express even unpopular views.
Of course, you, the readership, have every right to express yourselves as well, and you have done so admirably this week. However, it is important to note that, while we have let this issue play out in our Letters to the Editor and Op-Ed sections, we will be moving on beginning next Monday.
We are not trying to stifle discussion, nor to silence valid opinions, and we will continue to open our pages to those who raise new points and offer fresh persepctives on the matter, rather than simply reiterating the sentiments we have already received and published.
However, before we move on, one charge levied against Ms. Levi must be given special attention, namely the allegation that a short passage of "Just the Tip"'s first edition was plagiarized from a popular 2001 Yale Daily News column that also described the author's first experimentation with oral sex. This allegation appeared on a campus blog late Wednesday night, and we want to address it.
Although the two passages bear a strong resemblance to one another, we attribute this resemblance to the fact that the two columnists were writing about a very specific, but certainly not uncommon experience in the lives of teenage girls beginning to explore their sexuality.
Plagiarism is a very serious accusation, and should never be levied without proof. Ms. Levi denies ever having read the Daily News column before writing "Talent Shows," and she adamantly maintains that all of her ideas and language are her own. The Daily stands by Ms. Levi on this point and is sure that her future columns will verify her originality. We encourage you to read her column next Tuesday.
And while you're at it, we also encourage you to take a side, either laudatory or critical, on any of the numerous other events and people profiled in our pages.
We'll be waiting to hear from you.
