THE HYNES STORY

To the Editors of The Crimson;

I feel that The Crimson has been of generally inferior quality, lacking a level of good taste for some time. While yesterday's issue was irritatingly juvenile at best, this morning's issue February 8 was personally repulsive and repugnant. The article concerning Dave Hynes was in such obvious poor taste and so blatantly an invasion of his personal affairs (and none of our or The Crimson's business) that I could not help but be sickened. I realize that there is considerable talent and dedication of the staff--this is not my concern. I am not attacking the producer (though perhaps I should) but the product. Until it is greatly improved I personally have no use for The Crimson whatsoever. Richard Jon Allen

A good newspaper has a responsibility to its readers to report everything it decides is newsworthy with all possible thoroughness, accuracy and speed. In the case of David Hynes's withdrawal, we could not in good faith ignore the fact that he had left the University. As a prominent figure on a team that is now mid-season, Hynes was too much in the public eye to let his disappearance from the hockey roster pass unreported.

Once we decided that Hynes's withdrawal was a newsworthy event, we had a duty to try to verify whether or not the rumors that were circulating about the circumstances of his withdrawal were true. If we had investigated the rumors, found them to be untrue, and reported this, we would have been praised for ending malicious gossip. As it was, the rumors were true, and many are now damning us for reporting what we found.

If we had decided not to print the whole story, we would have engaged in a subtle and dangerous form of self-censorship and only allowed the rumors to continue. Instead, we decided not to withhold information from our readers and left no more room for rumors.

We tried to keep our coverage of the story as unsensational as possible. No picture of Hynes was printed; two-thirds of the story was spent recounting Hynes's athletic and personal strengths.

David Hynes is a great hockey player, a fine person, and an asset to this community. We regret his departure from Harvard and hope it will be brief.   --The Editors