Contacting Victim Insensitive

To the editors:

I was dismayed to learn from Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 and Dean Karen Avery'87 (Letters, Feb. 19) that The Crimson had contacted the woman who brought rape and assault charges against Joshua M. Elster '00. Such aggressive, damaging and unnecessary reporting should be taboo at any reputable newspaper.

As a former Harvard Independent reporter, and as someone who has held a number of journalism jobs over the past several years, I can sympathize with the difficult, and often tragic, situations journalists often face. I recognize that journalists must at times interview distraught individuals to produce a balanced and complete piece of reporting.

But as a former staffer and co-director of the peer counseling group Response, I have also seen the unnecessary trauma inflicted by insensitive outsiders on women and men who have already suffered tremendously. Would The Crimson have learned anything from this woman and her roommates of which the majority of its readers were unaware? Probably not. Would learning something new have justified an interview? No.

The best journalism, I believe, is ethical and humane. I hope that if another tragedy touches the Harvard community, The Crimson will remember that its responsibilities go beyond uncovering the story. JENNIFER COUZIN '98   Feb. 20, 1998