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6/02/2003 03:58:00 PM | Timothy How times have changed... Chien Wen writes on dartobserver: And at present, the only mouthpiece for political opinion is the Free Press, a left-liberal publication. The absence of a Dartmouth publication that offers centrist, center-right, and conservative perspectives on current affairs and public policy is not good for campus discourse, which is already left-leaning thanks to faculty and administrators.I'm surprised one doesn't exist, given that 1) there are many conservatives on campus who don't write for the Review, 2) the administration despises the Review, and would love to put it out of business by embracing an official conservative publication, and 3) Dartmouth students love to talk politics, as any regulars to Agora/WWIR/Politalk will tell you.When I was at Dartmouth 2 or 3 years ago, many thought for years that "the only mouthpiece for political opinion" for students on campus was The Dartmouth Review. So I find it odd that Chien Wen's posts mirror from the right complaints of mine (and many others) from as little as 3 years ago. To my surprise, many current students seem to think that The Free Press has become dominant in campus opinion journalism. That wasn't true when I was on campus and I tended to think student campus discourse was slanted towards the right and the apathetic center. One of the goals of the Free Press was to move the discourse to the left and provide an institution to get students thinking and engaged. Chien Wen is effectively saying that we succeeded. But if he's interested in knowing why there isn't a paper besides The Review on the right, it's because no one seems able and interested in putting the energy to start one (or to make The Review good) and to sustain that effort. I can speak to the difficulties in getting a paper started. It wasn't easy. The Dartmouth Review had 2 decades of history and alumni support behind it. It is tough to get one off the ground, but there is always something energizing about being in the founding year. But that doesn't explain the success of The Free Press in continuing to expand and improve, and to have new people take up the mantle and want to dedicate themselves to it. Could there be a sustained effort over several years to have a centrist and/or conservative publication? But what will motivate students to keep such a publication going? Why not publish your opinions in The Dartmouth? You need people willing to sustain the commitment that goes into building an institution and forum for opinions. Why would so-called 'independents' want their own paper? Public Policy Quarterly, a Rocky paper that lasted for a few years, did not gain the staff and readership it needed. What would unite people in such a group effort to advance individualism (heh), especially with The Review on campus (I think Chien Wen neglects a bit how The Review has, and still could, connect campus issues with a larger, national conservative agenda). The Review's history is tainted, but it also has past glory (the former and latter largely stem from the same events). Don't forget that there was a non-Review conservative paper (The Beacon) on campus for a good part of the 1990s. I think it was started in reaction to the Hitler quote controversy at The Review. The administration 'embraced' it by funding it, but beaucratic hurdles come into play with College funding, however 'noble' or 'favored' the goal of an organization. The Review still outlasted it. And in George W. Bush's America, being from a notorious conservative publication ain't necessarily a bad thing. Finally, Chien Wen asks why there is not a conservative paper and gives three reasons why this surprises him. But bone of those reasons tell us why students would actually put the energy into not just talking about politics, but actually doing the extremely hard work of putting a paper together. The alliance of conservatism and apathy continues!! perma link |
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