Editor's Note

We deeply regret that the review of Professor Patterson's course was published, and would like to explain the circumstances behind its publication.

The review that appeared in this edition of The Confidential Guide was adapted from a review of the same course printed in 1987. After that article was published, Professor Patterson wrote a letter to the editor, explaining that he was not a Marxist as the article had stated.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case in student organizations, our institutional memory is very limited. Not until this week did we see that letter. Had we known of it earlier, we never would have reprinted that part of the review without checking. For this we are truly sorry.

We also apologize for what is perhaps an even greater error. During the editing process, the review was changed from its original form. The original review opened with a paragraph parodying Caribbean dialect; the new version greatly expanded on the parody. In an attempt to make the review more humorous, the editing process greatly increased its offensive content.

At that point, further editing and a final read-through should have kept the review from being published. However, because a version of the article had been printed before, it was incorrectly assumed that the article would cause no offense.

Once again, we apologize to both Professor Patterson and the Harvard community. Stephen J. Newman   Jonathan S. Cohn   Editor, The Confidential Guide   President, The Harvard Crimson