ADL Report Assails Dartmouth Review : Anti-Semitism: Ten-year-old off-campus publication has history of offending blacks, homosexuals, women, American Indians, Jews and other groups.

The insertion of a quote from Adolf Hitler in the credo of the Dartmouth Review last October was “unquestionably” an anti-Semitic act and was done by someone on the Review’s staff, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

The report is a result of an investigation conducted by the ADL at the request of the Dartmouth Review shortly after the incident. Inserted in the place of the Review’s standard credo, a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, was an excerpt from “Mein Kampf” that read: “Therefore, I believe today I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator: By warding off the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord’s work.”

The quotation was not the Dartmouth Review’s first brush with controversy. Since its inception 10 years ago, the publication has offended blacks, homosexuals, women, American Indians, Jews and other groups. Staff members of the Review helped destroy shanties built on campus in protest of South African apartheid. The night before a hunger strike on campus, Review staffers staged a lavish banquet.

The Review is a private, off-campus publication that receives no funds from Dartmouth College. It is distributed free to all students. Much of its funding comes from conservative organizations such as the John M. Olin Foundation.

The Hitler quote appeared in the Oct. 3 issue of the Review, which came out Sept. 28, the eve of Yom Kippur.

Kevin L. Pritchett, the editor in chief of the Review, said in a telephone interview that the ADL’s conclusion was not unexpected.

“They are stating the obvious,” Pritchett said.

Based on “more than 400 hours” of interviews and investigations, the ADL report also found that the quote was not inserted by an outside saboteur, as some had suggested at the time of the incident, but was “inescapably” the work of a member of the Review staff.

Again, Pritchett expressed no surprise. “We’ve been saying that for the longest time,” he said.

Richard D. Glovsky, a Dartmouth alumnus and former U.S. attorney, was chairman of the ADL commission. He said the ADL also discovered “an environment” at the Review that “not only condoned the inclusion of the quote but may have encouraged it.”

Alex Huppe, a spokesman for Dartmouth, praised the ADL report. “It is the first time an outside organization has taken the time to study not only the acts but the effect the Review has on campus,” Huppe said.

The ADL report urged increased oversight by Review trustees and advisers. It suggested further that “publication of demeaning and scandalous words is protected by the First Amendment, but it adds nothing valuable to political discourse.”