Binghamton Review
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Binghamton Review is a conservative student journal at Binghamton University in New York State, United States. Issues of the magazine, published monthly from September to May, include news, humor, investigative journalism, and commentary on political, social, and student issues. The magazine is controversial on the Binghamton campus for its anti-liberal position and defense of conservatism as a whole.
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[edit] Editorial policy/format
Binghamton Review is the only conservative paper on campus, and editors must continue in this tradition. There are, however, many libertarians, moderates, liberals, and even socialists that write for the paper, sometimes regularly. Letters to the editor include fan mail and hate mail, and are often printed. As well, there is a regular feature, the campus media watch, in which the Review criticizes and comments on other campus publications, Binghamton University administration officials, and the campus issues of the day. It is almost unheard of when a staff writer will agree with every article printed in the magazine.
[edit] History
Binghamton Review was founded in 1987, with John Guardiano as its first editor and two Russian ex-patriates as staff writers. The paper was composed of people who felt that other campus media was not properly portraying conservative positions on social and political issues. At the time, many Review staffers defined themselves as either conservatives, Republicans or anti-communists. The paper was chartered by the Student Assembly and declared fundable in 1987, and published monthly in newspaper format until 1992, when it changed to its current opinion journal format.
In the 1990s, the Student Association at Binghamton University froze funding for the publication when the staff refused to attend sensitivity training. The training was mandated by the rules committee of the Student Assembly after a political cartoon was printed that claimed Gay and Lesbian studies was not serious academia. The Review countered that their centerfold was a place for humor and cartoons are not serious commentary. More importantly, they claimed that this was an attack on free speech and it was not proper for anyone other than editors to have editorial control over content. The Review also cited an earlier example of the Assembly not interfering with free speech protection when The Student Assembly had taken no action against "Pipe Dream" for publishing Holocaust Denial advertisements by the Neo Nazi Institute for Historical Review. Ultimately, the Review's content was condemned and they lost their funding, despite their claims of free speech protection.
The Review's position remained defiant all through the nineties and into the present, as did the student government's position. However, despite lack of funding, issues continued to circulate, as the magazine was always able to attract the attention of national conservative groups, and because of private donors and the sale of advertisements. In a December 2004 meeting, the Student Assembly voted to once again fund the publication by a vote of 16-3, and that ended a 12 year funding ban, and an impasse between the Review and the student government.
During the mid-nineties, Binghamton Review started to attract more libertarians and moderates to their staff, which was reflected in their internal debates over social issues. This tradition of symposium writing is still evidenced today, and was started mainly by editor Nathan Wurtzel (Editor-in-Chief 1995-1996.) This aspect of the Review is perhaps its most recognizable quality to date by fans and critics alike.
[edit] Controversy
Given the controversial past of Binghamton Review, it was not surprising that they came to the defense of a fellow student publication, Pipe Dream, when that newspaper had many of its issues stolen on April 1st and 2nd of 2005, after it published a controversial April Fools Day edition in an attempt at satire. While this was a notable stance to take for a rival publication, it fit in with their libertarian/conservative view of speech protection. It did, however, deepen the paper's tension with other student groups on campus (who were among the most upset at Pipe Dream for its April Fool's edition.)
There is even controversy over whether the Review is "conservative" in nature. Under the leadership of Louis Leonini (Editor-in-Chief 2004-2005) in particular, Binghamton Review became more libertarian-inspired, and less conservative along the lines of traditionalism. Although the paper never spoke against traditional values under his leadership and it was not any less critical of the perceived "liberal establishment" on campus, the paper took a more neo-liberal than neo-conservative tone. It is important to note, however, that even Leonini's leadership saw the publication and influential contributions of many paleo-conservative and neo-conservative authors still in great visibility despite Leonini's free-trade, free market, small government ideology.
The controversy about Binghamton Review is not limited to liberal criticisms. The paper (when Louis Leonini was managing editor and Michael O'Connell was editor) also endorsed legalization of marijuana, the lowering of the drinking age to 18, and the return of the "Campus Pub"--absent from the university since 1999. This move alienated some of their conservative base, but retained and recruited a good portion of their free-market writers and supporters. Their controversy within conservative ranks is confusing to their detractors, but the Review's structure allows its writers tremendous freedoms--the result is a collection of essays that are mostly (but not exclusively) right-of-center that often seem not to be part of a theme.
[edit] Staff
As of Summer 2006, the staff of the Binghamton Review are as follows:
Editor-in-Chief: Chris Powell
Managing Editor: Thomas Shannon
Business Manager: Nathaniel Sugarman
Treasurer: N/A
Layour Editor/Webmaster: Jeff Lichtman
Copy Editor N/A
Staff Writers:
- Arielle Deutsch
- Evan Engel
- Dan Golberg
- Dylan Lainhart
- Timothy Peeples
- Matthew Phillips
- Chris Powell
- Harrison Salzman
- Nathaniel Sugarman
- Jarred Michael F. Weiner
[edit] Past Editors of Binghamton Review
- John Guardiano
- Yan Rusanovsky
- Kathryn Doherty
- Ephriam Bernstein
- Michael Malloy
- Paul Schnier
- Adam Bromberg
- Bernadette Malone
- Michael Darcy
- Nathan Wurtzel
- Amy Gardner
- John Carney
- Paul Torres
- Jason Kovacs
- Robert Zoch
- Matthew Pecorino
- Michael O'Connell
- Louis W. Leonini
- Joseph Carlone
