Undergrads start liberal intercollegiate magazine

It literally all started underground. At the end of this past summer, interns at The American Prospect gathered on the Boston subway and had the first meeting of New Deal, a new intercollegiate progressive online magazine.

The magazine launched its first issue during the last week of October to bring students at Penn, along with Harvard, Brandeis and Boston universities, together as a cross-campus forum for political views.

College senior and New Deal publisher Katie Johnson sees the magazine as a great medium for progressive students at Penn.

"I think there are a lot of progressive groups here at Penn, and we want them to be able to share ideas with students on different campuses -- to be part of something bigger," she said. "Especially after the results of the election, it's important to keep all of the work they did mobilizing during the campaign going. It doesn't end here."

Johnson has reached out to many Penn groups to get them involved in the project. So far, she has generated interest from groups ranging from the Penn College Democrats and Penn for Choice, to the campus American Civil Liberties Union chapter and the Asian Pacific Student Coalition.

Students on campus had mixed reactions to the new publication.

"I wouldn't exactly classify myself as liberal, but I think it would be really interesting to read it and find out what liberal viewpoints are," Engineering sophomore Salima Kassam said.

Yet, other students do not see themselves reading the magazine.

"I'm not into politics, and even if I am, I'm not too liberal, anyway," College junior Kate Sullivan said.

New Deal started off as the brainchild of Harvard student Nicholas Karvounis. Karvounis took note of the trouble some students were having expressing their liberal ideas and saw the need for this kind of forum.

"It seemed to me that a lot of groups on the Left are kind of atomized and present themselves as an opposition to conservative organizations," Karvounis said. "It struck me that to constantly present your principles as a reaction to someone else's discredits your idea."

So he presented his vision to his fellow interns that evening, and they shouted ideas over the din of the rush-hour subway. The final product includes everything from editorials, drawings and cartoons to films, fiction and even poetry. There is also a section for satire and the arts.

"We really want to encourage people to submit a large range of media," Johnson said.

With the next issue coming out within the next two weeks, submissions are highly encouraged.

"We want to be a place where young progressives can hash out their ideas and proposals and get responses from other young liberals," New Deal Editor and Harvard student Jonathan Stein said. "It is essential that this creates action."

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