New conservative newspaper at Northeastern snagged

A new conservative student newspaper, which bills itself as not for ''the faint of heart," hit a snag during its debut this week at Northeastern University.

Students running the Northeastern Patriot distributed about 2,000 copies on Monday, then received a call from university officials cautioning them that they had to register as a student organization before distributing another issue or change the paper's name. The university requires groups with Northeastern in their name to register.

The first issue of the Northeastern Patriot featured editorials denouncing illegal immigrants, quotes from Republican leaders, and a picture of students at an antiwar protest titled, ''peace Nazis." A note in red at the bottom of the front page warned: ''This publication is printed for a conservative-minded audience and is not recommended for the easily offended, the narrow minded, or the faint of heart. God bless America!"

Students working on the independently run publication said they are worried that university officials are singling them out for printing views that could be considered unpopular on a campus where students often wear anti-Bush pins and hold rallies in support of gay rights. University officials, however, said they are not censoring the paper and simply want the new publication to follow university rules.

That type of clash has been playing out on campuses across the country as more conservative student newspapers appear in the traditionally liberal realm of higher education, according to free speech advocates and conservative groups. In the last five years, conservative publications have started at Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Harvard, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, according to the Collegiate Network, a nonprofit conservative group that offers funding and guidance to nearly 100 alternative student newspapers in the country.

''It seems that they have problems because they are publishing viewpoints that are not popular on campus," said Mike Hiestand, an attorney for the Arlington, Va.- based Student Press Law Center, a national advocacy group for student journalists.

Dave Moberg, a sophomore and editor in chief of the Northeastern Patriot, said he and others decided to publish the newspaper to give a voice to ''the under represented."

The university's campus media board, run by administrators, called him after he handed out copies of the paper, saying they wanted to discuss university policies. But Moberg said he often sees other students distribute pamphlets and newsletters around campus promoting gay awareness and antiwar events without interference by the university.

''I just hope the university isn't doing this because of the viewpoints we represented," he said. ''We are not here to cause a scene, but we do want to exercise our First Amendment rights without being impeded by bureaucracy or red tape."

Northeastern administrators said they don't object to the content in the Patriot and hope the group will become a recognized organization, said Laura Shea, a university spokeswoman.

''The media board has reached out to them," she said. ''They want them to be included."

The newspaper has sparked some debate on campus. The Northeastern News, the school's student newspaper, described the Patriot as having a ''case of manic soapbox supremacy."

Other students said they are not sure what type of readership the Patriot would attract.

''It is weird that anyone would want to publish that kind of stuff here," said freshman Elizabeth Mannile. ''I would read it as entertainment almost."

Conservative newspapers are sometimes met with resistance from more liberal students and administrators, who ask them to stop distributing the publications on campus, said Stephen M. Klugewicz, executive director of the Collegiate Network.

''They are just trying to get their voice out," he said. ''They resent all this PC stuff being forced down their throats."

Student editors of conservative newspapers in the Boston area said they have received mixed welcomes on their campuses.

Students groups have criticized The Observer at Boston College since it was founded in late 2003, but administrators have been supportive, said editor Brad Easterbrooks.

''We have never been threatened about not being able to publish or distribute on campus," he said.

Things have not fared so well at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, which earned a dubious distinction when the Collegiate Network gave it an award this month for ''silencing an alternative campus newspaper."

School officials said they asked the Fenwick Review, a conservative newspaper, to stop publishing or become a recognized student group in December 2005 because the paper did not clearly indicate that it was not affiliated with the college.

''It was not a question of content," said Ellen Ryder, a school spokeswoman.

''They were doing something unauthorized."

But Shawn Sheehy, one of the paper's editors, said the paper has been in publication since 1991 and that administrators only questioned the staff after they published a cartoon mocking gay marriage in January.

''They said we were committing hate crimes," he said.