The Crimson's SNAFU

As our readers point out, The Crimson sure got itself in trouble yesterday.

The whole episode started when Bradley R. Smith, director of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, called The Crimson looking to run a few ad insertions in this week's Crimson, hoping to influence a few "empty vessels" into rethinking Holocaust history.

The Crimson had been down this road before, going so far as to write an editorial discussing why it refused to run this very same ad from this very same person...back in 1994.  Nevertheless, the ad appeared on page 7 of yesterday's Crimson.

Once word got around, outrage ensued.  The first e-mail hit a Harvard open list around noon. Next, On Harvard Time picked it up.  Then IvyGate.  Then Gawker.

What did The Crimson have to say for itself?  A bureaucratic mix-up, of course.