Spectator Editor-in-Chief Resigns

The editor-in-chief of Columbia's daily student newspaper resigned last week after allegedly pulling a fire alarm to stage a photo of a fire truck in action.

Two other members of the Daily Spectator's staff also resigned over the incident, and the newspaper ran an editorial last Wednesday explaining the situation.

The editorial blamed editor-in-chief Ruth Halikman for the alarm and said the newspaper "sadly accepts her resignation." She declined to comment.

Halikman allegedly set off the alarm last Sunday night.

The newspaper had planned a story and a photograph of the fire engine for the front page of last Monday's newspaper.

Accounts differ of exactly what happened Sunday afternoon.

Spectator associate photographer Rich T. Altman said he waited for 45 minutes outside the station to take a picture of the engine, but no vehicle emerged.

Altman said he went back to the Spectator offices to get film, and when he left to return to the station, Halikman also left the offices.

He did not know where she went, he said, and he did not suggest she pull the alarm.

About 15 minutes later, the engine left the station on an alarm, and Altman snapped the picture, he said.

But Marco E. Roth, Halikman's boyfriend and former associate arts and entertainment editor, said that Halikman acted on Altman's suggestion. Roth resigned his position last week.

"She trusted Rich that pulling a fire alarm was not an offense deserving of being plastered all over the newspapers," Roth said. "She was not aware it was a misdemeanor."

Altman is a resident adviser at Columbia, Roth said. Since fire alarms are a resident hall matter at Columbia, Roth said, Halikman trusted Altman's judgment.

Altman denies any involvement in the plan.

"Personally I know I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "They say I told her to do it. What, is she easily manipulated?"

Halikman's exact reason for resigning is also unclear.

Last Monday the nine-person managing board of the Spectator met to discuss the incident. No executives will discuss what happened at the meeting.

The editorial said that "after reconsidering her actions, Halikman resigned from the 118th managing board."

But Roth said Halikman resigned on Tuesday because of a letter expressing a no-confidence vote from the managing board.

Altman was asked Wednesday to resign his title as an associate photographer, even though he insists he had no knowledge of Halikman's actions.

Roth also alleges that the actions of the managing board probably stemmed from previous internal conflicts at the Spectator.

"There have been a lot of ethicallapses since I've been at the paper," Roth said. "I think the way this situation was dealt with displays a certain amount of hostility and lack of respect for Ruth."

"Had she had a better working relationship with the rest of the board, it probably would have turned out very differently," he said.

Mike H. Stanton, managing editor of the Spectator, said he disagreed with Roth.

"It's a real tragedy for everyone involved," Stanton said. "The executive board will rcally miss her."

Roth said Spectator publisher Christopher P. Conway turned Halikman in to university authorities.

"This reeks of small- minded revenge or a very stupid lapse in judgment," he said.

The story on the fire engine will probably run eventually, but the pictures will not, Stanton said.