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What? This, Racist? The Beacon's Questionable Cover

Wednesday, January 14, 1998

The editors of The Beacon, the college-affiliated, conservative monthly recently halted distribution of their December issue. The reason for all of the fuss? In an e-mail to The Beacon staff, Editor Adam Mirick '99 explained:

'On the cover of our latest issue is a picture of the scales of justice, with Dean M. Lee Pelton's Head on one scale and the word 'GREEKS' on the other.

'Using a demo of the program Kai's Power Goo, we took a photo of Dean Pelton, provided by the Office of Public Affairs, and attempted to enhance Dean Pelton's smile.

'Kai's Power Goo works by rotating surrounding pixels to the ones that you choose. In this manner, it is possible to 'smear,' 'nudge,' and 'move' photographs. When we put the issue together, none of our layout staff found anything wrong with the photo or cover. Today, after printing, I brought a copy to show our Contributing Editor, Marc Sikkes.

His immediate reaction was 'That picture might be construed as racist.' I was dumbfounded, but he explained his point and I understood the cause of his concern. For, not only did Dean Pelton's mustache, teeth and cheeks enlarge, but his lips also grew as the smile was 'smeared' by the program. Because the smile was drawn across the face and then up to form a grin, the corners of the mouth are quite distorted. The same effect happens when smearing a picture of the Mona Lisa, for example, but we are very worried about possible allegations of racism.

'Let me assure you that our intention was not racist. In no way, shape or form, did we mean anything but to create a Dean Pelton with an exaggerated smile. We do not wish to offend anyone on campus because of this mistake. With the recent Jack-O, Bear Bones, and the happenings surrounding a poster created by Tri-Kappa last spring, we have been alerted to the sensitive feelings on campus. We respect these feelings and the sense of community at Dartmouth.

To this end, The Board has decided, preliminarily, to halt distribution, which at this time has reached a number of dormitory clusters. In addition, we plan to prepare cards explaining our intentions and apologizing for any offense that may have been taken by members of the Dartmouth Community... Racism is very dangerous and very wrong. The Beacon is not racist.'

To date, no cards have been delivered, nor have the promised apologies been delivered.

Fortunately for The Beacon, The Daily Dartmouth does not print after Thanksgiving and so far they have been spared the incendiary wrath of The Daily Dartmouth columnists and Editorial Board.

The Dartmouth Review, however, is not content to stand idly by and tolerate this outrage. At a time to be announced next week, we will have a rally on the green against such racism. Campus leader Unai Montes-Irueste '98 is tentatively slated to address the crowd.

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