Editor thought 'Gazette' was protected

Thirteen years ago, when Dennis Dinan, the editor of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, was forced to resign rather than forfeit his editorial freedom, many said a similar situation could never happen at Penn. But now, several alumni who advise the University's own alumni magazine, The Pennsylvania Gazette, claim its editor is facing the same type of administrative pressure that caused Dinan's resignation. According to the New York Times story on Dinan's resignation, Dartmouth College President David McLaughlin had in effect dismissed Dinan. McLaughlin asked Dinan to portray campus news with a positive spin in an effort to project more good news about Dartmouth to its alumni. Gazette Editor Anthony Lyle was quoted in the Times story. "I think as times get tougher for higher education, as the competition for good students in a shrinking pool accelerates and as Federal money becomes less available, there may be more reluctance on the part of administrations to tolerate the kind of open reporting that Dennis [Dinan] tried to do," Lyle said. Today, Lyle's words would seem prophetic, if the claims of increased administrative interference are true. In an article that appeared in the December 3, 1982 issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian, columnist Steven Ludwig asserted that as long as the Gazette kept the high standards it had established in the previous 12 years under Lyle's leadership, there was little chance that Lyle would ever be placed in the same position as Dinan. "The tenor of the Times piece was the president trying to suppress bad news," Lyle said in an interview with Ludwig. "This is inimical to everything an institution of higher learning stands for." According to Ludwig, the Gazette was well protected from administrative tampering. "The greatest safeguard, however, is that the only people who determine Gazette copy are its staff," he wrote. "And contrary to rumor, there are no plans for a column written by the administration." Recently Virginia Clark, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations, wrote a letter to Lyle requesting "prior review" of stories before they appear in the Gazette. And University President Judith Rodin recently announced she will be writing a bi-annual column in the Gazette to keep readers' more informed about the direction of the University. This was after a request by readers to learn more about what is happening in College Hall. Ludwig quoted Lyle saying that the Gazette did not need to be a cheerleader for the University. "We don't make bad news, we just report it," Lyle continues. "We recognize that tulips and toads exist in the fertile gardens of the University; we hide neither." In the article, Lyle was further quoted saying that Dinan "did the right thing [by resigning] and I would hope never to be in that position to make that decision." Several alumni have said that Lyle may now be in just such a position. Lyle has declined to comment on these issues, while the administration claims he is working to improve the magazine.