LAMPOON SUPPRESSION

For the first time in fifty years, the suppression of an undergraduate publication has been instituted. The action of the graduate board of the Lampoon in eliminating the remaining issues of the year has broken a period of freedom which has characterized Harvard as a liberal institution.

Whether the action springs from the dissatisfaction of the trustees alone, or whether the officers of the University have taken this means of restricting publication, is not known, and probably never will be learned. Whatever authoritative hand is responsible for this latest move, following a period of graduate censorship, it is one which all undergraduates and past Harvard men will join in denouncing. If there is one tradition which Harvard has adopted as final and permanent, it is that absolute freedom be given to all members of the University in their speaking, writing, and thinking.

No one will deny that the Lampoon has done many things to arouse the just condemnation of the community. But the principle is more important than the occasional violent wrongs done by the magazine. Even if the Lampoon had published numbers far worse than it has done, the principle of freedom would still have to be maintained.

In a matter of such vital importance, when the first encroachment on inviolate ground sets a precedent for future invasions, it will not do to sit by and idly mourn the passing of the Lampoon. There is an issue here which is larger than the immediate question. Those who desire the tradition of freedom at Harvard to be maintained will have to wage an unflagging campaign against this suppression. By whatever legitimate means possible, the former status of the Lampoon must be restored.