College Democrats consider launching liberal campus magazine this semester

The Princeton College Democrats will be starting a new liberal publication later this year.

"The publication is intended to be a voice for democratic issues which are not necessarily voiced on campus," said Clint Wallace '04, communications director for the College Democrats.

The organization hopes to publish one or two issues this academic year to develop a platform for next year's issues.

However, the publication is still only in the formative phase of development. Funding, style and structure remain major questions.

So far, the Democrats have solicited responses for contribution to the magazine from their own organization, but they are also looking to solicit contributions from across campus.

The College Democrats' executive committee developed the idea for the magazine earlier this year and formed a new committee under the supervision of the communications director to monitor the publication's creation.

While the new magazine might seem to infringe on the grounds of the Progressive Review — one of the more liberal, current-event-based publications on campus — both the Democrats and the Progressive Review disagreed.

"This is going to be more political than previous publications," Wallace said. "The Progressive Review seems to be taking certain viewpoints, but not necessarily analyzing the politics behind those viewpoints."

Former Progressive Review editor-in-chief Andy Rachlin '04 said the new publication will be a complement to the Progressive Review and not a replacement or competitor.

"To my understanding, they are going to be a distinctly political publication focusing more on the domestic issues," Rachlin said, "while the 'Prog' is less political and more issueoriented."

The question remains whether this new publication will find a readership with the prevailing political and social atmosphere on campus.

"Overall I think the campus is pretty dead-on representative of America," Ted Hall '05 said. "I see a good split here where people tend to lean left on most social issues, there's lots of fiscal conservatism just because many kids come from a certain upper middle class white up-bringing."

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On the other hand, Stephen Smith '05 said, "This college campus, like virtually any college campus outside of the Deep South, is to the left. It seems to me that most of the liberal voices on campus seem to be from interest groups, like publications."

Some think the publication might improve political dialogue on campus.

"I think something coming out of the far left would spark debate because it would spark reaction," Hall said. "It's not like our campus is a giant vacuum where there's nothing like it, but there isn't anything wrong with publishing a new magazine if it's going to find a readership."