The BlarFlex Comic Gets Hate Mail

The opinion section of the Daily D published a series of letters to the editor which maligned the Daily D for allowing the comic to be published as it singled out Ms. Bonnie Lam and was in poor taste.

We agree with the letters’ general sentiment and feel that despite the artists’ first amendment rights to free speech, the comic should not have been published in the school newspaper. However, one letter singled out the Dartmouth Review: Bill Montgomery ’52 called the Review the scum of print media. Of course we don’t agree with this particular part of the letters to the editor.

We also managed to get a hold of a scanned copy of the comic.

TDR has managed to get a hold of the Daily D’s intra-paper apology, after the jump. —A.S.

>Date: 25 Apr 2008
>From: Katherine L. O’Donnell
>Subject: Important
>To: (Recipient list suppressed)

Hello all,

I hope you are doing well. A few things I thought I’d address today:

First, I want to apologize to all of you personally for the inexcusable oversight that resulted in yesterday’s BlarFlex comic making it to print. Everyone on the directorate was horrified that such an error could escape us, and I want to reassure you that my pledge in today’s issue to review our editing processes was not a hollow one. I’ve met with each of the editors closely connected to the oversight, the cartoonist has been fired, and the directorate will be meeting to discuss it in detail early next week.

Beyond the personal mortification and disgust I felt at seeing the comic in print on Thursday, what made me saddest about the oversight was the thought that our staff members, who put so much into The D day in and day out, might feel ashamed of working for it. I would never want to put any of you in a position where you felt like you had to defend The D or The D had marginalized you personally, and the fact that many of you were put in that position over a truly indefensible lapse of judgment on our part is simply inexcusable.

Second, I want to make it clear that if any of you have any questions or concerns about any of this, PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me so we can talk about it.

Third, Grace, Zeke, the managing news editors, the opinion editors and I will be in the office at 4:30 on Sunday to discuss the matter with any of you who wish to come. I hope we can turn this unfortunate debacle into an event that will bring the editorial staff closer together.

Again, on behalf of the entire directorate, I sincerely apologize.

Best,
Katy