Controversial magazine denied funding

Richard Montgomery High School '94 Rockville, Md. Political correctness on campus was in the news again this year, as the Ivy League's oldest student magazine was denied any funding from the University. The result of the controversy was a total revision of the guidelines for financially supporting University student groups. The Student Activities Council voted three times this year to reject funding requests from The Red and Blue, which over the past few years has developed a reputation on campus for being extremely conservative. Some students were particularly offended by a controversial article published in the magazine's fall issue. The article, written by College junior Jeremy Hildreth, allegedly disparaged the culture and the people of Haiti. At the January SAC meeting, The Red and Blue applied for and did not receive money for publishing a spring issue. SAC, a student-run council that controls funding and official recognition of student groups on campus, distributes money collected by the University from every student's tuition. At the time, the body's guidelines prohibited it from funding groups designed to promote a particular political ideology or party. The magazine applied for funding again at the next SAC meeting, held February 27. At that meeting, the body revoked the group's eligibility for funds, with many SAC representatives saying that the magazine had a political bias and therefore should not receive University money. But SAC members opposed to not recognizing The Red and Blue said there were many SAC-funded groups that are just as politically-oriented as the magazine. And after the meeting, then-Red and Blue Editor-in-Chief Christopher Robbins, a College junior, said he was considering a lawsuit against the University to reverse what he felt was an unfair decision. Campus reaction to the body's decision was heated, with University President Judith Rodin issuing a statement criticizing SAC. Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow called for a review of SAC's guidelines to prevent future incidents. Rodin said the University's position on the controversy was that "funding decisions cannot be based purely upon the content of a student group's speech." Student government leaders began to revise the SAC funding guidelines shortly after Rodin spoke out against the policy. In late March, the new guidelines were approved by the SAC body at their monthly meeting. The body then voted to restore The Red and Blue's eligibility to receive funding. But when the time came to decide whether to fund the magazine, an overwhelming majority of the body was still opposed to giving the publication any money. After a month, The Red and Blue's newly selected editor-in-chief, College junior Thor Halvorssen, brought another budget request to SAC's final meeting of the year. The purpose of the meeting was to approve next year's budgets for all member groups. By then, the body was unwilling to consider any new requests for funding for last year, and voted not to hear the magazine's case. The controversy brought some national attention to the University, as Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern both devoted time on their nationally syndicated radio shows to developments in the situation.