Stand up for free speech with your own campus publication

Why do studies show that college seniors are more liberal than college freshmen? Simply put, campus radicals dominate almost every college campus in America and create a hostile environment for conservatives and libertarians.

Leftists claim to support diversity. But “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings,” and political correctness run amok show that liberals in higher education reject diversity of thought and freedom of speech.

Conservatives rarely have an outlet for their beliefs. When students get news about their campus, the official student newspaper is often simply a tool for spreading leftist propaganda. Many university administrations blatantly censor conservative ideas and opinions.

However, many conservatives and libertarians now fight back and stand up for free speech with newspapers of their own.

Papers such as the Harvard Salient, the Notre Dame Irish Rover, and the University of Georgia Arch Conservative now shatter the leftist monopoly of campus debate with hard-hitting editorials and unique reports of liberal abuses.

Here are two examples of how one paper fought back against liberals on campus and made national news.

Last year, The Minnesota Republic at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities shined a spotlight on the student government’s rejection of a campus-wide moment of silence for victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Pausing for a moment of recognition to honor the victims would increase racism and Islamophobia on campus, the student government said.

“The passing of this resolution might make a space that is unsafe for students on campus even more unsafe,” one student representative said. “Islamophobia and racism fueled through that are alive and well.”

The representative went on rhetorically to ask, “when will we start having moments of silence for all of the times white folks have done something terrible?”

The resolution that would have honored the 9/11 victims with a moment of recognition was defeated by a 36-23 margin. However, the staff of The Minnesota Republic didn't let go - they fought back and reported on the story.

The Republic’s story, which was re-published on the Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform, gained national media attention and generated public outrage. The university’s board of regents rejected the student government’s “safe space” argument and announced the university would move forward with a moment of recognition for victims of 9/11 in future years.

The Dartmouth Review, the conservative paper at the Dartmouth College, broke national news about liberal bias last November.

On November 12, Black Lives Matter protesters stormed the college’s library, chanted loudly, screamed curses, and intimidated students who were trying to study.

The Dartmouth Review staff, which had recently received training at a Leadership Institute Student Publications Workshop, captured video of the protest and authored a story that exposed the protesters’ vicious mob mentality.

Both the video and the story went viral, receiving national coverage on Fox News and CNN. The video of the protest now has over one million views on YouTube.

The Dartmouth Review was the first campus outlet to write about the intimidation many students experienced that night. Because of their journalistic efforts, the college’s president promised that the school would investigate the protesters and vowed to “enforce appropriate sanctions.”

Without the Review, the emboldened protesters would have continued their campaign of intimidation. Instead, they found themselves at the center of a national media firestorm, all because the Review took a stand.

The Leadership Institute launched its Student Publication Workshop in 1983 to expose leftist bias and abuses just like these. Their purpose is to teach conservative students how to set up and run independent conservative campus publications of their own. This was the second type of training the Institute offered, and it is still going strong today.

The papers this workshop produces are often the only strong conservative voice on college campuses dominated by liberals. On dozens of campuses across America, independent campus newspapers published by Leadership Institute graduates now give students a point of view they might otherwise never hear.

When you create a conservative paper on your campus, you'll follow an illustrious group of trailblazers. Former staffers of conservative campus publications have gone on to become some of the movement's brightest stars.

Luminaries such as documentarian Dinesh D'Souza, radio host Laura Ingraham, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal columnist Joseph Rago all began their careers with The Dartmouth Review, the flagship of the conservative campus publications.

Ann Coulter was a founding member of the aforementioned Cornell Review.

National Review Editor-in-Chief Rich Lowry cut his teeth as the editor of a conservative student newspaper at the University of Virginia.

Bernadette Malone, a Leadership Institute graduate who became editor of the Manchester Union Leader editorial page, says that her campus conservative student newspaper changed her life.

Bernadette realized she was a conservative by reading the Binghamton Review, the conservative newspaper at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

She joined the staff of the paper, attended the Leadership Institute’s Student Publications Workshop, became the paper’s editor, and decided to pursue journalism as a career.

Bernadette worked for several years as a political reporter for the late conservative columnist and TV commentator Robert Novak.

That’s the kind of impact working on a conservative student newspaper can have on your career.

Like Bernadette, Amanda Carpenter will tell you that the Student Publications Workshop changed her life.

Amanda served as Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s Communications Director. You may have seen her during her primetime appearances on Fox News and CNN.

Amanda attended LI’s Student Publications Workshop while a student at Ball State University. She left the school, in her words, “with a domain name and ideas for 10 stories.” She began writing and publishing on her campus, and she never looked back.

Since she graduated, Amanda has written for Human Events as a congressional correspondent, for Townhall as a national political reporter, and as a columnist for The Washington Times.

This constellation of conservative stars provides great examples of how experience as a student journalist can lead to a career advancing conservative principles and providing balance to the national liberal news media.

Young conservatives who set up and run independent conservative student newspapers learn what it’s like to battle the liberals every day. They relish it.

By starting your own student publication, you will gain skills to make you a valued member of any campaign or organization you join.

Successful student editors learn immediate, valuable skills such as:

  • how to write, edit, and design a regularly published, effective publication
  • how to do investigative journalism
  • how to recruit and train a motivated staff of like-minded students
  • how to manage a budget
  • how to fundraise and sell advertising

Are you ready to start your career as a conservative student journalist today? The Leadership Institute will help you every step of the way.

The first step is scheduling a Student Publications Workshop on your campus. Find a few dedicated, conservative friends and contact Emily Larsen, the Leadership Institute’s Student Publications Coordinator, at ELarsen@leadershipinstitute.org.

After your workshop, which will be held either in-person with a visit from a journalism professional or remotely online, the Leadership Institute will help you fund your first issue through the Balance in Media grant.

That’s right -- my Leadership Institute will grant you up to $750 to aid publication of your first issue.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Contact my Leadership Institute today and let us help you advance the conservative cause on your campus today.

Fifty years of personal observation have proved to me that, even if conservative students leave journalism after graduation, those who publish their own campus papers tend to be much more successful in whatever career paths they take.

 

P.S. It’s time to stand up for free speech and hold universities accountable for their liberal biases and abuses. The choice is yours.

 

Will you carve your path to success in the conservative movement with a publication of your own? Then contact Emily Larsen, Campus Reform’s Student Publications Coordinator, at ELarsen@leadershipinstitute.org today.