H Bomb Faces Further College Review

The College announced yesterday that it will not fund a proposed student-run sex magazine and that it will reconsider the organization’s status as a Harvard publication.

The Committee on College Life (CCL) approved H Bomb—which planned to feature nude photographs of Harvard undergraduates as well as articles about sexual issues, humor and art—as an official Harvard publication during its meeting on Tuesday.

But in a statement released yesterday, College officials wrote that “there has been much misunderstanding” about H Bomb.

“The proposal to publish a magazine called H Bomb was approved by the Committee on College Life based on the understanding that it would not include material that would be considered pornographic,” the statement read.

The statement also said that “no funds from Harvard College would be provided for this publication,” indicating the College had changed its position on allowing the publication to apply for grants.

Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin said after the meeting Tuesday that the magazine would be eligible to apply for grants through the College’s regular process.

Harvard spokesperson Robert Mitchell declined comment last night on why the change had been made.

CCL members approved the publication after looking at Squirm, a Vassar magazine that contains nude photographs.

According to the statement, the CCL will meet with the magazine’s creators—Camilla A. Hrdy ’04 and Katharina C. Baldegg ’06—to ensure that H Bomb does not include pornographic material.

The statement also said that Baldegg and Hrdy did not present their magazine to CCL as pornographic.

But in an interview with The Crimson on Tuesday, Baldegg repeatedly referred to H Bomb as porn and said that she did not object to her magazine being labeled as porn.

Baldegg, Hrdy and Professor of Psychology Marc D. Hauser, the faculty adviser for H Bomb, co-wrote a letter to The Crimson which said that Wednesday’s Crimson article “misrepresented the goals of [their] organization” and that “H Bomb is not porn.”

When contacted last night, Baldegg declined comment. Hrdy could not be reached for comment.

Undergraduate Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 said that the council “would be likely to fund” H Bomb.

“I would anticipate that we would fund this. Most people on the council feel that after the letter to the editor [yesterday] that these students are cognizant of the line that could be crossed,” Mahan said. “[H Bomb] seems to be completely nonexploitive of the students who would be involved and have a productive purpose.”

Harvard’s approval of H Bomb has been picked up by media outlets across the nation, including CNN and Fox News.

—Staff writer Ebonie D. Hazle can be reached at hazle