This past summer, third-years Audrey Unverferth and Evita Duffy founded the Chicago Thinker, a student newspaper publishing news and opinions from conservative and libertarian points of view. The papers purpose is to defend conservative and libertarian perspectives in a community that is increasingly intolerant of such voices, according to the Thinkers mission statement.
Unverferth, who serves as both editor-in-chief and publisher, and Duffy, the papers managing editor, hope that the Thinker provides a platform for conservative and libertarian students to express their ideas to the University of Chicago community. I think it's necessary to have a platform for conservatives and libertarians to thoughtfully speak, and then to hopefully engage with others, Unverferth said.
Part of our mission is to expose the student body to a different school of thought, to expose them to conservative and libertarian ideas that aren't usually seen in the campus community, Duffy said.
Duffy and Unverferth said the Thinkers founding was prompted by their perception that the campus community is unwilling to engage with conservative and libertarian ideas.
Last March, a post by the University of Chicagos Institute of Politics (IOP) featured Duffy holding a sign that read I vote because the coronavirus wont destroy America, but socialism will. The photo sparked widespread controversy, inspiring hundreds of posts on social media, some substantive and some aimed at Duffys personal character. The incident drew a response from IOP Director David Axelrod.
In May 2019, hundreds of students gathered to protest a bill that Brett Barbin, then a fourth-year College Council representative and head of the University of Chicago College Republicans, proposed to College Council that would have banned student life fees from being used to fund abortions.
The problem that we're currently facing on campus right now is that conservatives and libertarians are too afraid to speak because of the extraordinary social consequences that individuals like Evita and Brett Barbin have experienced, Unverferth said.
Nonetheless, Unverferth said the editors of the Thinker are open to publishing work that reflects other points of view. We happily consider work by those from across the political spectrum, she said. We love to communicate across the political aisle, and we disagree, behind closed doors, and also in our pages frequently, so we're not an echo chamber.
Most of the articles published so far by the Thinker address expressly political topics like qualified immunity and the 2020 elections, but Unverferth wants to publish other content in the future. I think it would be boring for our readers if we only focused on politics, she said. And so I would really like to expand to cover various arts events and sports games, et cetera.
Writers are going to focus on stories that they think are important to inform the student body [about] at UChicago, she said. They'll cover subjects on everything from what's happening on campus to what's happening abroad.
The Chicago Thinker is currently a digital-only publication, but Unverferth hopes to publish a physical edition in the future. Her plans, however, have been complicated given the ongoing pandemic. My goal is to go into print as soon as feasible, she said. I think life needs to resume a little bit more to normal, but I would really love to have a print edition by the end of the school year.
Unverferth confirmed that the Thinker received grant funding from Collegiate Network, a program that supports conservative and libertarian publications on college campuses. The organization is operated by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a nonprofit that supports conservative college students by hosting debates and lectures, providing networking opportunities, and funding conservative student organizations, publications, and fellowships.
They provided us with a grant to launch our newspaper, said Unverferth. They provide mentorship. And in the case of the Chicago Thinker, they provided the funding to build our website.
Publications supported by Collegiate Network include The Princeton Tory, The Dartmouth Review, and the recently launched Danforth Dispatch at Washington University in St. Louis. ISIs website lists Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who started The Federalist as an undergraduate at Columbia University, and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who started The Stanford Review as an undergraduate, among the organizations alumni.
Unverferth said that backing by the ISI will not influence editorial decisions at the Thinker. We choose how to spend our grant money, we choose what to publish, we chose our name, she said. They do not possess any editorial control whatsoever upon what we publish, but they have provided our primary source of funding.
Looking forward, Unverferth and Duffy hope to raise money to start printing physical copies of the paper. We're planning to create some form of fundraisers so that we can raise money in order to go into print, and more in conversations with various organizations and alumni and others to obtain funding, Unverferth said.
Link:
- If Brevity is the Soul of Wit ... - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- Gang Brutality Caught on Tape - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Kim Jong Tweet - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Fuck Marching - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Monopoly Money - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Mexican Gang War: Both Sides are Cops - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Fruits of Democracy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- MSM Pwned by Amateurs - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- War on Drugs: Collateral Damage - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Goldman Sachs: Ruler of the Universe - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Sam Dodson Talks to MotorHome Diaries - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- When God and Government Mix - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Mike Gogulski PWNS Social Security - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Stefan Molyneux Interviews Jan Helfeld - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Commander in Chief: Council on Foreign Relations - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Canadian Healthcare Extravaganza - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- My Reply to an Essay on China, the US, and Yu Wan Mei - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Iraq War: A Biblical Event - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Crazy Facts from GovernmentLand - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Remember 9-11 - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Then Again... - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Hillary Clinton Devestates Pakistan - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Jan Helfeld and Elliot Engel - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Report on attacks against Michael Jude Gogulski 5 September 2009 - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- They Are Selling You - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Happy Guy Fawkes Day - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Emergency Aid to Seniors? No Way - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Public Option is the Decoy - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Should Insider Trading be Illegal? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Reefer Non-Madness - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- U.S. Legalizes Medical Marijuana - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Fiddling While Rome Burns - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Massachusetts Should Lower, Not Raise, the Dropout Age - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- No Limits on Executive Compensation - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Execs Quit to Avoid Pay Limits - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Krugman on China and the Dollar - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Obama's Climate Speech at MIT - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Fed and Policy Uncertainty - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Civil Union versus Civil Marriage - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Medicare Shuns Seniors - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Financial Market Reform - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- All You Need to Know ... - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- No Government Health Insurance - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Cap and Trade Will not Reduce Emissions - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Cartoon Commentary - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Did the Stimulus Work? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Letting the Sick Die on the Street - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Renewed Hope for Gridlock? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- An Opportunity for Libertarians? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Not-so-Temporary Stimulus - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Sausages in Financial Reform - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Dumb Cops, Dumb Laws, Unnecessary Victims - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Fighting Terrorism in Berkeley - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- School Lunch FAIL - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Insane Mortgage Policy - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Comments Welcome - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Obamanomics: Growing the Pie or Dividing the Pie? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Right Meets Left on Criminal Justice - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Is Nuclear the Answer to Global Warming? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Franksgiving: Another Flawed Stimulus - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Dollars for Dishwashers - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- The Politics of Cap and Trade - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- A College for Cannabis - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- George Will, Medical Marijuana, and Legalization - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Bernanke on the Fed - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- A Debate About Mexico's Drug Wars - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Doublespeak - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Tobacco Prohibition, Bit by Bit - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- The U.S. in the Middle East: A Prediction - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Gay Marriage or Civil Union: Would Less be More? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Whither the Estate Tax - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Late-Term Abortions in Nebraska - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Why Climate Negotations Are a Waste of Time - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- "Mild" Gun Control Laws - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Did the Iraq Surge Really Work? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Driver's Ed at Age 52 - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Ginnie Mae, Ticking Time Bomb - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Toddler Terrorism - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Policy Insight from David Letterman - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]